A Road to Recovery
by Nicolalouise104
Summary: Natsu and Lucy were accidentally given an SSS-class quest, but they didn't know it. A gruesome mission and months later, Lucy and Natsu are left severely injured with a dead guild and a large reward. Both are left with scars, mental and physical, and a long road to recovery awaits them. Rated M for graphic scenes, swearing and mature themes *Majorly Nalu but not a fluff story*
1. Chapter 1 - A Journey Begins

**LUCY POV:**

"Yo Lucy!"

"What do you want?"

"Wanna go on a quest?!"

"Why? You'll only blow everything up!"

"Oh don't be like that, Luce!"

 **Hi all, I'm Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia if you want to get technical, but no one really uses my last name often now. You couldn't tell by looking at me but I am actually a mage. I mean blonde hair, busty figure, gorgeous face. It just doesnt fit my profile. I'm not a powerful mage but I'm just strong enough to belong to a guild. Now for those who don't know, guilds are places where wizards and mages can come together and work. I belong to one of the most popular guilds in Fiore. It's name is Fairy Tail.**

"Don't touch me!" I yelled, hitting a boy over the head, making him remove his arm from my shoulder.

"Lucy! You didn't need to hit so hard" he whined, rubbing his head.

 **And this idiot here, is Natsu, Natsu Dragneel. He's one of Fairy Tail's three dragon slayers. Now again, just by looking at him you would not think he is one of the strongest members in Fairy Tail. I mean, the first thing you notice about him is his hair. His hair is _frickin'_ _pink!_ (or salmon as he calls it) But I guess his well defined muscles also give away the fact that he is physically strong. He's also one of the most destructive members of Fairy Tail, although I wouldn't blame him. He was raised by a fire dragon, which probably explains his lack of common knowledge. But regardless of his dim-witted and destructive nature, he is my best friend.**

"So what is this quest you want to go on?" I asked, huffing and crossing my arms across my chest.

"It's just one of those 'Clean out the Bandits' request. But it pays really well" Natsu said reading out the flyer.

"Pass that here" I said, snatching the paper out of Natsu's hand. The quest was just a basic 'Get rid of the Bandits' in the outskirts of Fiore. However, the one thing that caught my eye was the reward. 700,000 jewels! My jaw dropped reading that.

"You in?" Nastu asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Hell yeah!" I yelled, grabbing Natsu's arm and dragging him over to Mirajane, Fairy Tail's bar hostess and Sorcerer Weekly's most featured model. "Mira!" I yelled in her direction. She turned around and then smiled at me and Natsu. Mira was in her early twenties atleast and was as beautiful as anything. She had long white hair with a tuff tied up at the front and deep sea blue eyes. Mira is the older sister to two other members in Fairy Tail. Lisanna and Elfman.

"Hey guys" Mira smiled, as Natsu and I came up to the bar.

"Yo Mira, Lucy and I want to take this quest" Natsu said, pointing at the paper in his grasp.

"Sure, which one is it?" Mira asked, pulling out a large binded book from underneath the bar.

"The uh, 'Get rid of the Bandits' one out in Dalfieor" Natsu read, struggling to read the words on the paper.

"The one with the 700,000 jewel reward?" asked Mira.

"Yeah, that's the one!" I piped in. Mira began writing down the details of our quest in the dusty old book.

"And is Happy joining you on this?" asked Mira, politely.

"Yea-"

"Nah, just me and Luce today. Happy's off doing Exceed stuff with Lily and Carla" Natsu replied, cutting me off. I glared at him but he took no notice. Mira nodded and smiled happily before jotting down our names in the book. It wasn't until I leaned over to see that Mira had written our names inside a love heart. I sent murderous glares towards Mira who was oblivious to my hate.

"Well we better get going!" Natsu said before lifting me up and throwing me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"PUT ME DOWN FLAMEBRAIN!" I yelled, pounding at his back. I looked up to see Mira winking at me and making a heart with her hands. I reciprocated her feelings by flipping her the finger before Natsu walked out the door with me over his shoulder.

* * *

"You know I could have walked by myself to my apartment. You didn't need to carry me there" I said, walking towards the train station with Natsu.

"Yeah but you take forever to walk to your place and I wanted to go on the quest asap!" whined Natsu, like a little kid. For a 17 year old, he definitely acts like a toddler.

"Yeah yeah, whatever" I replied whilst we walked into the train station. I made Natsu wait on one of the platforms whilst I bought our tickets.

"Two tickets to Delfieor, please" I asked in my sweet voice to the Ticket Vendor.

"Delfieor?!" the ticket vendor spluttered. "Are you sure you really want to go there?" He asked nervously.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why? Is it a problem" I asked, confused. The Ticket Vendor leaned in closer from behind the glass window.

"Bad things have been going on there. It was once a lovely woodland village but now, its more deserted than anything. The only thing that inhabits that town are a group know as 'Magi Mortem" he whispered, terrified.

"Magi Mortem?"

"Magi Mortem or as the surrounding towns call them, Double M. They just appeared one day in Delfieor and took over the entire village. The only thing is, no one knows anything about them. The surrounding towns send out people to get information on Magi Mortem but no one ever returns. Hell, they don't even know if they use magic or not". I gulped nervously before straightening myself up.

"Well I should be fine. I may not look like it, but I'm a wizard from Fairy Tail and I think that I'm ment to be getting rid of these bandits" I said, holding up my hand to show the Ticket Vendor my pink Fairy Tail emblem on my hand. He nodded before slipping my the tickets underneath the glass towards me.

"Be carefull, young missy. You may be a wizard, but these guys are on another level" he whispered before calling the next person in line forward. I nodded and went over to the platform I had told Natsu to wait at.

"Geez Luce, what took you so long?" he whined. "I've been waiting here for aaaggeeesss" he exclaimed, stretching the 'ages' to emphasise his point.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I got held up by the ticket vendor" I said, handing Natsu his ticket.

"What's up?" Natsu asked, curious.

"I'll tell you on the train there" I replied, trying to figure out which direction our platform was.

"But what if people hea-"

" **ALL PASSENGERS ON THE TRAIN TO DELFIEOR, PLEASE MOVE TO PLATFORM 3 AS THE TRAIN IS NOW BOARDING** " called the announcer over the speaker, cutting Natsu off mid-sentence. I grabbed Natsu's arm and pulled him through the busy throng of people. We made it onto the train, seconds before it departed. To Natsu's surprise, the train was empty.

"What?! Why is this train empty?!" yelled Natsu, running up and down the aisle, trying to find any signs of life in this carriage. Obviously, his motion sickness wasn't effecting him as Wendy had cast her Troia spell on him before we left.

"Calm down Natsu!" I yelled, smacking him across the head. He dropped to the floor, craddling his head in pain.

"Oww Lucy! Why did you do that?!" wailed Natsu.

"Just sit down and I'll explain everything" I ordered. Natsu obeyed and sat quietly on the seat next to me, rubbing his head. I told Natsu what the Ticket Vendor had told me when I was buying the ticket. All that stuff about Delfieor being deserted, people going missing and the Magi Mortem.

"Magi Mortem, huh? What kind of name is that?" said Natsu, mocking the name.

"I wouldn't make fun of them, Natsu. You heard what the ticket vendor told me. There is no information on them. No one even knows if they use magic or not" I said, trying to talk sense into him.

"Pshh, I could take them down easily" Natsu replied with a smug look on his face. "I'm a dragon slayer, remember?"

"You're also an idiot" I replied back sarcastically. Natsu ignored me and looked out into the aisle. I leaned myself against the window and watched the lush scenery roll past the window. My eyes were dropping and was almost asleep untill I felt a sudden weight appear on my lap. I opened my eyes to see Natsu, asleep in my lap. Initially, I wanted to shout and get Natsu off my lap, but after seeing how peacefull he looked, I decided against it. I however, was now faced with a dilemma, where was I ment to put my hands? My lap was occupied and keeping my hands up in the air would be weird. I went into deep thought as I looked out the window. Subconsciously, my hands decided that Natsu's hair would be their resting place. I began unconsciously moving my hands through Natsu's soft hair. It was only 10 mintues later I realised what I was doing. In shock, I quickly removed my hands. Natsu let out a low, animalistic growl at the sudden loss of my hands and he continued that sound untill I moved them back. I smiled softly as my fingers combed through the pink strands of hair. I closed my eyes and continued combing untill I aswell, fell asleep

* * *

 **NO POV:**

Back at the guild, Master Makarov was frantically looking around the guild for something. He was turning over tables, looking under chairs, behind boxes. No one knew what he was looking for and why but whatever it was, it was important.

"Mira!" yelled Makarov, using his unusual loud voice to get her attention. Mira came running out of the kitchen at the sound of Makarov's voice.

"Yes Master, is there something wrong?" she asked, a little worried about why the Master was using his loud voice.

"Mirajane, have you been up to check the S-Class board lately?" Makarov asked, using his normal, soft voice.

"No, I was just about to go up there. Why? Is there something wrong?" Mira asked, getting more and more confused at this situation.

"Yes. But first, I need you to tell me who went out on a quest today and what quest it was" Makarov ordered. Mira obliged and pulled out the old dusty book from underneath the bar.

"Hmm, let's see..." she said flicking through the pages trying to the find today's date. "Alzack and Bisca went out on a pest control quest near Hargeon, Erza is out on Mt. Hakobe doing a retrival quest, Gray and Juvia are responding to a broken water slide and industrial freezer at Akane Resort and Natsu and Lucy are out a clean up quest on the outskirts of Fiore" Mira read out from the book. Makarov was mentally ticking off every person before looking back over to the log book.

"Natsu and Lucy, where exactly are they going?" he asked. he had a funny hunch that it was them who would get the mix up.

"Um, Delfieor, I believe. It's an overnight train ride to the village" Mira replied, trying to remember what the quest said.

"Shit..." Makarov mumbled under his breath. It had to be them who got it. Fate just had to pick them.

"Master, is everything alright? What's wrong with Natsu and Lucy?" asked Mira, concerned for the wellbeing of her fellow comrades.

"That quest they took in Delfieor has been raised to an SS-Class quest with a reward of 5 million jewel. I thought that that quest in particular was sutible for the lower ranking mages but after looking deeper into it, I realised that it was completely above their heads. Are you 100% sure that they took this quest?" Makarov asked, worried about his children.

"I'm certain they took this quest. Is it really that difficult?" asked Mira, worrying for her friends.

"Mira, if those two are not carefull in this quest, they could possibly be seriously injured or die" Makarov explained, looking down in the thought of two of his children being killed.

"Oh no! What do we do?! Can we send someone out to get them?!" panicked Mira as the thought of letting her friends go on a quest that dangerous rushed though her mind.

"Gildarts will be the one that will have to go in and get them, but I sent him a quest only just recently so I do not expect him to return anytime soon. If Natsu and Lucy have not returned in 2 weeks, I will personally go out and get them" Makarov promised before hoping off the bar and walking up the stairs to his office. Mira stood behind the bar in total guilt. She had let her friends take this quest without even stopping them. Her last interaction with the pair was making fun of them and Lucy's last look at her was one of pure annoyance. She may never see Lucy or Natsu smile again. The idea's and thoughts began to overwhelm her and Mira slumped to the floor, crying.


	2. Chapter 2 - Town Called Delfieor

**LUCY POV:**

I awoke to the sound of squeaking breaks, a whistle and the smell of a wood fire. I felt comfortable and really didn't see the need to move. I opened my eyes to see where we were. We had stopped at a train station in the town of Rythor. I closed my eyes, realising that this wasn't our stop and attempted to fall asleep again. However, I was rudely awoken by the ticket collector in our carriage.

"Hello?" he asked, trying to wake me up. I was too sleepy to reply. "Hey, you two love birds, this is the last stop for this train. You need to get off" the ticket collector said quite loudly. It took me a few seconds to register what he had said.

"Love birds?" I asked, drowsily. I looked down at the weight on my shoulder and found Natsu sleeping on my shoulder. Like a bolt of lightning, I sat up straight and shoved Natsu off me screeching " _EWWW!_ " Natsu hit the other side of the seat and slid to the floor, slowly waking up.

"Why Luce... Come back to meee" he mumbled in his half asleep state. I stood up and dusted myself off before facing the ticket collector.

"What do you mean this is the last stop? This train was going to Delfieor" I asked.

"Yeah it was until the tracks were cut off. Plus it's way too dangerous to go to that station anymore. If you're that desperate to get there, I don't think it's too far from this town. The locals say it's quick to get there" he replied before walking out of our carriage. I stretched out my aching limbs before grabbing my pack. Natsu had only just woken up and was completely confused about where we were.

"Aren't we meant to be in Delfieor?" he grumbled sleepily.

"Yeah, but the tracks were cut and apparently it's too dangerous to take the train there. We'll walk from this town. It's not that far apparently" I said before walking out of the carriage.

"Lucy! Wait!" Natsu cried out as I walked away from the carriage. The day was at its earliest. The sky was a light shade of pink from the recent sunrise. Natsu and I must have slept overnight on the train ride here. I took in a deep breath of the cool air and walked into the town. Natsu came running up behind me sometime later, fuming about the fact I had left him on the train.

This town, Rythor, was a busy little place with a bustling marketplace and many beautiful houses. It reminded me of Magnolia but on a much smaller scale. The town was located in what seemed like a bowl in the mountain range that surrounded it. Natsu and I walked through the marketplace, taking in all the different sights and smells. Even though this was town was part of Fiore, there were things in the market that I had never seen before. This was probably due to the fact that the town was not too far away from the border of Bosco.

During our sightseeing, Natsu and I became separated in the busy market. I took the time however to find a magic store and look what type of keys they had to offer. Some of the keys they had were completely different to the ones I had seen in other stores around Fiore. However, the price was no lower than what the stores in Fiore usually offered. I made a mental note to come back here once we finished our quest to buy some keys. I found Natsu at a buffet bar that specialised in flame grilled meat, stuffing his face with all the different types of fire on offer. After much hesitation, Natsu finally left the bar and we began asking around for directions.

"Excuse me," I asked an old shopkeeper.

"Why hello there young lady, how can I help you?" the old shopkeeper sweetly replied.

"We need some directions to a place near here" I said, pulling out a map from my bag

"Sure! I'm happy to help some fellow travellers. Where are you heading to?" he asked looking at the map that I had set out on his counter

"Delfieor" Natsu said, bluntly. The old shopkeeper gasped and look alarmed. People within hearing distance quickly turned towards us in alarm of what Natsu had just said. The old shopkeeper looked around and lent forward to us.

"You two, follow me" he whispered before motioning us to follow him into the back of his shop, behind a door that said 'PRIVATE'. The room must have been part of the old man's home. There was a coffee table, a book case, some comfortable chairs and many family photos. One in particular was surrounded by flowers. He sat us down on the couch and looked at us in fear.

"What business do you have in Delfieor?" he asked, terrified in the word.

"We're wizards from Fairy Tail" I said, holding up my hand to show my pink Fairy Tail emblem. Natsu did the same, pulling down the collar of his shirt over his shoulder to reveal his red one on his bicep underneath his jacket.

"Are you here to finally rid Delfieor of the Magi Mortem?" he asked.

"Yes" Natsu and I said in unison. The old shopkeeper breathe out in relief before regaining his composure.

"Well in that case, I will definitely give you the directions to Delfieor. But just a wise word of warning, do not say 'Delfieor' around people" he said in a stern tone.

"Why's that?" asked Natsu.

"The people of this town and other surrounding towns have not had good history with the Magi Mortem" the old man explained.

"Hmm, I see" I said, propping my chin up with my hand. "Would you be able to tell us what you know about the Magi Mortem? Actually, start from the beginning, before they took Delfieor". The old man rubbed his head and chuckled.

"Well, it all began thirty years ago. My wife and I had only been in Rythor for a few months at the time and during that period, my wife gave birth to our son, Marcus. Delfieor was a forest town, if I remember correctly. It was famous for its magical woodlands. Travelers came all over to walk through the woods. Tourism and trading in Delfieor were at a peak. But one day, this group turned up. There must have been four or so people in the initial group, it wasn't that big. Apparently they announced that they owned the town from that point onward. No one in the town would allow that to happen. The only thing we know about Magi Mortem is that if you don't agree with them, they won't hesitate to kill you". I gasped and placed my hands over my mouth in shock.

"Was anyone spared?" I asked in pure horror.

"Sadly, no. Not even the children were spared. 3,000 people died in one day. Everybody in Rythor or in the surrounding towns heard the screams. The following day, one of the surrounding towns sent out some scouts to find out what happened. They never returned" the old shopkeeper said, looking down at his hands solemnly.

"So you think that they were killed?" asked Natsu.

"They have not returned. If they haven't been killed than I do not know what else may have happened to them. Each town takes turns in sending out scouts into Delfieor. The locals of this area call it the 'last job'. For the elders of the towns, like me, we see it as a death sentence. For the youngsters, they see it as a challenge or a test of courage and strength to see if you can make it back alive" the old shopkeeper replied, bowing his head.

"Has anyone ever made it back?" asked Natsu.

"No, no one has ever returned" the old shopkeeper replied, shaking his head.

"How many people have you sent out to Delfieor?" I asked, straightening myself up in my chair.

"Over 800 now. We stopped counting a few years ago due to the amount of people missing over this. My son here was nominated for the job 10 years ago. I haven't seen him since". I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand in shock as the old shopkeeper pointed over towards the photo surrounded in flowers. There appeared to be a boy standing in the photo, grinning and sticking his thumb up. The boy in the photo looked around our age, 17 or 18. His brown hair was a tousled mess and the longest parts were tied up in a short ponytail at the back. His grin was larger than life. I felt a pang of sadness inside my chest. This boy was no older than us, he had a smile that could make the clouds disappear and yet he was gone.

"Sir, I promise you, we will rid you of this Magi Mortem and bring home your son. I swear on my life I will do it" I said firmly, placing a fist on my chest.

"You have our word, old man" replied Natsu. The old shopkeeper looked at us, tears filling his eyes.

"Thank you so much, Fairy Tail wizards" he said, sobbing into his arm. Natsu and I just nodded as the old shopkeeper wiped off his tears before standing up. "I will pack you two some supplies for your journey. It's the least I can do for you" the old shopkeeper said before bowing and leaving the room. Natsu shuffled up closer to me so we could talk quietly amongst each other.

"Yo Luce, what are your thoughts about this quest so far?" Natsu asked, quietly.

"To be honest with you, I am terrified about this town and the Magi Mortem. But at the same time I'm curious about the whole mystery surrounding it. What about you? Your thoughts so far?" I replied softly. Natsu leaned back and scratched his head, thinking of an answer.

"Well I'm about the same, but I'm not scared about it. It is interesting though, I'll give it that" he replied. I tried to think over everything we heard. This seemed like such a big job.

"Natsu are you sure this is a normal quest? I feel like this would be on the S-Class board" I asked. I really hope he hadn't taken this one off the S-Class board like he did that time with the Galuna Island request. Natsu threw his hands in front of him, shaking them franticly

"No! I swear this time I didn't take this from the upstairs board!" Natsu said quickly, panicking. I let out a sigh and Natsu dropped his hands. "If you don't believe me, then how was I supposed to get it past Mira? Even she acknowledged that this was a normal quest". Natsu did have a point.

"True, but all this stuff seems like S-Class mission stuff. I mean the disappearing people, a ghost town, a group of people that no one's ever seen and the massacre of an entire village just doesn't say A-Class quest to me. Just imagine if Romeo picked up this quest. He would be way over his head" I explained. Natsu nodded in agreement. "I think we should return to the guild and tell Master this job isn't right for us" I said, looking down at my hands on my knees. Natsu roughly grabbed my biceps, twisting me around to face him, and shook me, gaining my full attention.

"Lucy, you're a Fairy Tail wizard, you don't back down from a challenge. Delfieor needs our help and I sure as hell ain't walking out because it's 'too difficult' or 'over our heads'. We're a team, remember? Teams don't give up or go home. We fight!" Natsu said, knocking some sense into my stupid head. I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"What am I thinking?" I said, chuckling. "I'm Fairy Tail wizard. I am never gonna back down from a challenge" I said smiling. Natsu's grip on my biceps released and his hands moved down to my hands, grasping them inside his larger ones.

"Yeah, because it's Natsu and Lucy forever" he said, smiling that infectious grin of his. At his words, something fluttered inside my stomach. A warm, tingly feeling I couldn't describe. I ignored it and looked up at my best friend, grinning widely back at him.

"Natsu and Lucy forever..." I repeated. The words seemed to fit together so well, like they were made to be together. I was broken out of my thought by the old man returning with two backpacks full of food and equipment. Natsu and I were still sitting with Natsu holding my hands. I didn't realise it until the old shopkeeper winked at Natsu, who quickly let go of my hands. I got up from my chair and grabbed my backpack to test its weight. After the old shopkeeper had given us the basics of our food rationing and how to use all of our equipment, he led us around to the back of his house which contained a stable. He owned around 4 different horses.

"Though the people of Rythor say that the distance to Delfieor is short, you must realize that when you live so far away from the other villages, what may be the longest distance for you is the shortest distance for us" the old shopkeeper said, stroking one horse's mane.

"So how far away is Delfieor?" asked Natsu, having a horse nuzzle at his face.

"2 to 3 days on horse and a week on foot" the old shopkeeper said, not fazed by the distance. Natsu and I both dropped jaws.

"Are you serious?!" I exclaimed.

"Yes. The trip to Delfieor usually takes a week if you take the forest path which means you have to walk around the mountains" the old shopkeeper explained, pointing to the looming mountains that surrounded the town like a barrier. "But, if you are old and wise like me, you would know that there is a shortcut path that crosses through the mountains that takes less than half a week. Albeit, it is slightly more dangerous and it's only accessible by horse, but it is significantly quicker" the old shopkeeper said, walking around the stables to where all the bridles, saddles and blankets were.

"So how do we access this path then if we don't have horses?" asked Natsu, oblivious to the fact that the old shopkeeper had two saddle blankets in his arms. I smacked Natsu upside the head at his stupidity as the old shopkeeper laughed.

"I'll lend you two of my horses, seeing as they don't get out much anymore. I was considering selling them soon but since you guys are taking this mountain pass, you can have them. I don't really mind if they come back or not so don't stress about returning them" the old shopkeeper said, handing Natsu and I a saddle blanket each before leading us over to our horses. We stopped in front of a stall that contained a chestnut brown horse with white socks.

"This here is Felix. Young man, I believe you may be suited to riding him as your personalities seem quite similar" the old man said, motioning for Natsu to come over and pet the horse. At first Felix was skittish, but after a while, he was all over Natsu like a puppy. A five foot, 500 kg puppy at that. The old shopkeeper led me over to the very last stall. In it was a horse with a caramel coloured coat and white splodges all across its body.

"Young lady, this is Aiko. She has a gentle and calm nature which I can see you display as well" he said as I approached Aiko with my hand out. She sniffed it before nuzzling it with her face. The old shopkeeper taught us how to saddle up our horses and how to remove their gear. He also gave us a brief riding lesson on how ride. Natsu was continuously being bucked off his horse whilst I trotted around in circles. Having lessons as a kid was a blessing in these times. We were each given food packs for the horses that would last a week and the directions of the mountain pass.

"Now are you sure there isn't anything else you need?" the old shopkeeper asked, looking up at us on our horses.

"You've already done enough for us. Thank you so much" I said, smiling down at him.

"It is my pleasure" he said before realising something else. "I never got your names, did I?" he asked. Natsu and I shook our heads.

"I'm Natsu" Natsu said

"And I'm Lucy" I said, smiling.

"Natsu and Lucy, eh?... I'll be sure to remember them. My name is Jefforey" Jefforey replied. We bid our farewells and began our journey.

"Thanks for everything, Jefforey!" Natsu and I said, as our horses began to walk through the town, away from the kind old shopkeeper.

"Stay safe kids!" he yelled back before walking back into his shop. Natsu and I walked through the town on horseback until the buildings on either side of us dwindled to a few houses every few kilometres or so.

"Hey Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"Why aren't you getting your motion sickness?" I asked, knowing that Wendy's Troia spell would have completely worn off by now.

"I don't get motion sick on horses" he replied as if it was an obvious fact.

"But how?! I mean, you getting motion sick just thinking about transport!" I spluttered. Natsu's face turned green for a few seconds before regaining its normal colour.

"Felix isn't transport! He's my friend!" Natsu exclaimed in anger. Felix made an audible grunt at Natsu's words. I chuckled as Natsu scowled at his horse. "Come on, your my buddy. Aren't you, Felix?" Natsu cooed, leaning forward and hugging Felix's neck. Felix made a snort and bolted off with Natsu flailing around on his back. I laughed as I kicked Aiko into a gallop and chased after the two idiots.

* * *

 **NATSU POV:**

After my stupid horse decided to bolt off and Lucy had to come heroically save me like some wimpy damsel in distress, we found the fork in the path. One path was a smooth and peaceful and lead out towards the forest whilst the other was a gravelly mess of stones and dust. You can tell which one we took. Definitely not the "sunshine's and rainbows" path, more like the 'rocky and deadly" path. I'm glad the old man let us borrow these horses because I could not see myself being able to walk up this death-trap. We had left the town in the middle of the afternoon and the sun was now setting in the horizon colouring the sky an amazing mix of blues, purples, oranges and pinks.

"Lucy, we may want to find somewhere to stay the night soon. It's getting dark and I really don't trust these mountains" I said, the nerves barely noticeable in my voice. Lucy turned around and nodded before continuing on. The further we went, the darker our surroundings became. It had gotten to the point now where I had to lead in front with one hand alight. At first, Felix and Aiko were extremely nervous about my fire, but after sometime, they became accustomed to the glow. Lucy had begun to eat some dried food from her rations whilst we trekked on into the night.

After her fill of food, Lucy began to doze off in her saddle. Once or twice she almost fell off her saddle by falling asleep but woke herself up before she could slip too far. She had slumped herself over Aiko's neck and was quietly snoring. Aiko however, didn't have a rider to steer her so she was constantly going off path. Uneasy about leaving Aiko with a sleeping Lucy, I moved her behind me so she could sleep safely and I could control Aiko. We continued on until I found a large enough cave to fit me, Luce and the horses in. I grabbed some fire wood Jefforey had given us and dismounted from Felix. I went to walk forward but fell flat on my face.

"Ouch..." I muttered, rubbing my arm from my fall and picking myself up. I walked over to the back of the cave to make our fire. When I say walk, I mean hobbled with a bow legged walk. If there's anything I've learnt from riding horses, they mess up your groin. My fire was going in seconds and I set up our sleeping packs for the night. Before unsaddling the horses, I gently bridal-style carried Lucy over to her sleeping pack and tucked her in for the night. I then unsaddled Felix and Aiko, gave them their feed and some water, and ate my dinner which consisted of dried meat and biscuits.

I stayed up a bit longer, letting the fire crackle in the little cave. The horses were lying down, sleeping, not too far away from Luce. Exhaustion was taking its toll on me too. My eyes began dropping and I could feel most of my senses going into shut down mode for the night. I crawled over to my sleeping pack and climbed in, waiting for sleep to overcome me. Even though most of my senses were in shut down mode right now, I would still be able sense someone's presence if they were to come in the cave. I sleepily stared off into the fire, its flickering and crackling lulling me to sleep like a soft lullaby until I let sleep take me.


	3. Chapter 3 - Uncharted Territory

**A/N: Hey ya'll, many apologies for the late update. School and stuff is completely draining me of any writing ideas. I'm trying really hard to upload as soon as possible so enjoy this new chapter!**

 **Also, I am not worth to own fairy tail in any way or form, I only own the OC's. Great Hiro Mashima takes all the credit**

* * *

 **NATSU POV**

I woke up to the sun peaking through the cave opening. Through my half asleep eyes, I could see the fire had gone out sometime during the night. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes before stretching. The bones in my back made a satisfying 'pop' as I twisted and stretched my body. Something in the cave seemed off. I looked around to see all our packs still there, the horses still asleep, Lucy's sleeping bag still- Wait. Where the hell was Luce.

I jumped out of my sleeping bag and ran around the cave trying to get Lucy's scent. Now when I say run, I really mean a half-awake run whilst stumbling over everything in my path. Lucy's trail headed out side and I quickly ran to the opening of the cave. From there, her scent went up and over to the top of the cave. In a climb that cave me a new set of cuts and grazes, I finally found her sitting ontop of the cave opening, watching the sun and eating her breakfast.

"Oh hey Natsu. You sleep good?" she asked, only just noticing me. I leant over and yawned, stretching my muscles out again.

"Where the hell did you go?! I thought you were kidnapped or something!" I said frantically. Lucy laughed as I folded my arms and scowled at her.

"I woke up early and it was still dark so I came up here and waited for the sun to rise" she said, stretching out and yawning. "And by the looks of things, it seems you've just woken up" Lucy said, giggling at my appearance. I looked over myself to see that she was right. I had forgetten my jacket/coat/shirt (no idea what it is), as I had taken it off during the night, and was currently shirtless, I'd also forgotten my sandals in my dash out of the cave, my white pants were crumpled, my hair flopped over infront of my vision and as I moved my hand up to sweep it, I felt the dried trail of drool on my face. I shrugged and made my way over to the rock Luce was on. She's seen me worse so why would care now? She handed me my rations for breakfast, recieving a funny look from me as I accepted them.

"I brought them with me knowing you would come and find me anyway" she said returning to her breakfast. I nodded and prepared my own which consisted of oats, nuts, dried berries and some weird sticky, but sweet, syrup. It wasn't the best breakfast but it would do.

"Doesn't the sun look beautiful?" she said. I looked up at her, noticing her gaze staring out into the distance and her skin basked in a golden light. My eyes switched to were her gaze was to see the sun rising over the hills. It truly was a sight to see. The sky was tinged with pinks, purples, oranges and blues as it made its way over the horizon.

"It's something..." I said, taking in the tranquility of the large flaming ball we call 'The Sun'. The sun rose up, and so did Luce and I. We didn't have time to burn our eyeballs out looking at the sun. We had a mission to complete and peoples lives depended on us completeing the mission. Lucy and I headed back down into our cave to pack up and saddle the horses before heading out.

Back when we were in Rythor, Lucy had bought this weird sphere called a 'navigational lacrima'. You had to put all these numbers into it to point you in the direction you wanted to go. The old man gave us the numbers to find Defieor. Lucy was currently up ahead being navigator with her fancy ball because I didn't know how to opperate it. If Happy was here, I would have just flown up with him and found and arrived Delfieor within a day. Thinking about Happy made me feel slightly bad about leaving him behind but I would have some awesome stories to tell him when we got back.

Our trekk up the mountain seemed endless. All there was to do was steer the horses and look out in to the endless oblivion or rocks and pebbles. As we began to reach the peak of the mountain, the air began to thin out. I could hear Lucy's ragged breaths as she started to have trouble breathing in the high altitude. I too was feeling the effects. Because of the minimal oxygen, my flames weren't as strong and just flickered out almost immediately when I lit up my hand. The air on the mountain was cold and hurt to breathe in, seeing as fire dragon lungs prefer warm air rather than that ice princess's cold air.

We reached the top of the montain by midday. Even though the sun was shinning, its was freezing on the mountain. Luce had layered up with multiple blankets and jackets to keep warm, whilst I just used my abnormally warm body heat. We stopped for a short while at the peak to have lunch before heading on. Lucy was currently struggling to get our flame box going to make hot water.

"Natsuuu~" she asked in that sweet pleading voice. The voice that ment she wanted you for something. I groaned.

"What?" I replied, turning around to face her whilst eating my sandwhich.

"Could you come and use your flames? Pretty pleasee?" she asked, batting her eyelashes aswell. I know this is the infamous 'sex-appeal' she uses on people to get her way. No way was it happening for me today.

"Why?" I asked.

"I just wanted some hot water. You can have some too. I know how you hate the cold" she replied. I guess she had me there.

"I would do it but I don't know wether it would work. My flames are going out the second I create them" I said, huffing.

"I'm sure you can get them going. Its okay if you can't, I just wonder Gray would say..." she said in that sugary sweet voice, batting her eyelashes and trying to look all innocent.

"I can do way better than that snow cone!" I yelled in anger. Cold weather or not, I refuse to let myself be beaten by Gray! Regardless of wether he's here or not.

"So you'll light it?!" Lucy asked, excitedly

"I'm all fired up!" I replied, jumping up and grinning at my infamous catch phrase. Luce watched as I sat next to the pot and put my hands underneath it. I tried to light my hands but nothing worked. Again I tried, using the power equivalent to making my body burst into flames. Still, no spark. I continued increasing the power untill I finally got a stable flame. I used about the same about of power used in Fire Dragon's Roar and even then, I only produced a tiny flame. Lucy heated up the pan of water and passed me a tin of boiling hot water. She took a sip and spat it out.

"YUCK! This is cold!" she shouted in disbelief at her cup. I dipped my finger in the cup to discover that it was still infact ice cold.

"What the hell?! I swear I made the water boil!" I shouted at my cold tin of water. Lucy glared at me.

"Yeah well obviously you didn't heat it properly" she snorted. I growled before downing my cup of ice cold water, gagging on its cool feel as it went down.  
'The water must cooled down because of the altitude' I thought whilst Lucy chucked her water out.

"I'm feeling the effects just as much as you are! I can hear your ragged and struggling breaths as much as you try to hide it. I can't even light my flames without feeling extra strain on my body!" I snapped. Lucy looked slightly shaken before regaining her composure and taking a deep, somewhat ragged, breath in.

"Alright, it's obvious here the altitude is not only messing with our breathing and magic, but also our tempers aswell. I apologize for snapping" Lucy said, packing away her pan and flame box.

"I know that you need time to cool off so I will start walking. I'll stop and wait when we have to turn or something" she said before putting her stuff back in her bag and riding off on Aiko. I got up and kicked the nearest pebble with all my might, sending it spiraling down the mountain.

 _'Gah why did I pick this stupid quest!'_ I thought to myself. To be frankly honest, I really didn't want to do this quest anymore. There were so many secrets and mysteries to get your head around, and if that wasn't bad enough, anyone who goes to this retcheted town never comes back. Lucy could get hurt because of this mission. I could lose my best friend if we're not carefull. I couldnt see a life worth living if something happened to her because of me.

I stood up straight and took a struggled breath in, calming my thoughts. I sat down on a large flat rock, crossing my legs and closing my eyes. Meditation. It was something I learned to use to strengthen my mental power and calm down my raging mind. I'm sure Lucy wouldn't mind if I stayed here for a few minutes.

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 **LUCY'S POV**

Screw the whole ' _altitude messing with our emotions_ ' bullshit, I have been waiting at the next turn for close to an hour now and still no sign of that knuckle head. What the hell was he doing? I mean yeah, if your pissed your gonna want alone time, but an hour?! Seriously! We have a mission to complete and Natsu's taking his sweet ass time up on that mountain. I was tempted to leave him a note telling him to follow my scent but after realising we'd be going through a forest amounst thousands of of smells, I decided against my idea.

' _Better luck next time, brain_ ' I thought, flicking myself in the head. I looked up toward the mountain and saw a cloud of dust heading this was. ' _Tsunami? Nah thats the ocean. Avalanche? No snow. Dust storm? No sand_ ' I thought, pondering on the large dust cloud heading toward me.

" **SLOW DOWN YOU FOUR LEGGED SAUSAGE MEAT** "

' _Or it could be Natsu_ ' I thought as Natsu came bolting down the hill at breakneck speeds. The closer he became, the more I realised he wasn't slowing down. I turned Aiko so we stood on the side of the path, out of their path of destruction. The idiots galloped past us with Natsu flailing on Felix's back, again. Felix stopped right before the fork in the path, sending Natsu catapaulting out of the saddle and face first into the wooden sign, not too far in front of Felix. I rode Aiko over to Felix and hopped off to see how his face was feeling.

"I would ask what happened but you'd probably give me an answer along the lines of 'My stupid horse hates me and decided to bolt down the mountain for no reason" I said, crossing my arms and imitating Natsu's voice. Natsu sat on the ground and pouted at me. His face all red and puffy from hitting the sign.

"But he does..." he mumbled, glaring at Felix who snorted at him.

"I'm sure he's a lovely horse. Isn't that right, Felix?" I cooed, walking over to Felix and giving him a scratch and he whinied happily. Natsu huffed and looked in the other direction. "Anyway, what the hell we're you doing up there?! You had me waiting for an hour!" I said, crossing my arms again.

"I was doing stuff, but I'm here now and thats all that matters" he said, before getting up and mounting Felix. I did the same and rode Aiko over to Natsu.

"So which way we going now?" asked Natsu. I looked down at my navi lacrima which pointed towards the forest track. I pointed in the direction.

"Through the forest. I'm pretty sure the route is pretty straight forward now. Just don't leave the track" I said. Natsu nodded and we headed into the forest. The change of scenery was nice. I mean going from barren mountain sides to luscious green forest was definately a nice change. The tall pine trees loomed over us as our horses walked side by side through the forest. The smell of pine trees and flowers wafted all around us, the smell sending me into snooze mode. I wasn't the only one either, Natsu looked just as sleepy.

It was high afternoon when we reached a clearing not too far from the track. We set up camp on the bank of a clear water pond with a waterfull running into it. Natsu literally jumped off Felix and dove straight into the water, clothes and all. Due to his reckless act, Natsu now had to sleep through the cold night in nothing but his boxers. But we had fun playing in the pond, splashing each other and dive bombing from the waterfall into the water. We each took our turns scrubbing ourselves down in the water before heading over to dry off at our camp. Natsu discovered fish in the pond and was currently spear fishing. I was hanging out our clothes on a makeshift line I had made between two trees. I felt dropplets running down my back before Natsu placed his head on my shoulder.

"GAHHH!" I screamed, jumping back in surprise. Natsu was standing where I previously was, hair dripping, completely wet and holding three large fish.

"DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!" I screeched, clutching the item of clothing I was about hang to my chest. Natsu laughed and shook his head, droplets of water spraying out. A warm feeling fluttered in the pit of my stomach. Natsu looked, different. He was still the same but I just saw things I hadn't seen before. Like how his salmon locks flopped over infront of his vision and gave him a cute look, or how defined his muscles looked in the light, or how water droplets ran down his abs, or how his red boxers hung loosely off his hips and showing his V line-

' _LUCY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING! NATSU IS YOUR BEST FRIEND! STOP LOOKING DOWN THERE!_ ' my head internally screamed at me. My eyes had indeed drifted to his boxers and I brought my gaze back up to his. He looked like he hadn't noticed but my face bore the tell tale signs.

"Check out these fish I caught! No more dried meat for us tonight!" he said cheerfully, jumping up and down. I was too embarassed at myself to speak.

"Hey are you alright? You look like you've just gone for a run. Your face is all red" Natsu said, coming up close to me. I forced a laugh, moving out of his grasp.

"Oh I'm just really flushed, thats all" I replied, smiling and rubbing the side of my neck. Natsu looked at me confused. "Hey why don't we get a fire started? It's gonna be getting dark soon and I'm feeling kinda hungry" I said, hanging out the last item of clothing before turning to him. Natsu fist pumped and shouted a 'Yeah!' before gathering firewood and starting our camp fire.

We sat and ate our dinner (grilled fish with some bread) whilst Natsu told me stories of adventures he and Happy had been on before they met me. We laughed and we talked around the campfire for what seemed like hours before feeding the horses and getting into our sleeping bags. The sky was clear and the stars twinkled on the midnight blue sky. I traced the zodiac stars with my fingers, joining them together with imaginary lines. Natsu must have looked over and seen me pointing at the sky.

"Luce, what are you doing?"

"Stargazing" I replied, still picking out the constellations. I heard shuffling and when I looked over, Natsu must have wiggled his way over to me and was now shoulder to shoulder with my sleeping bag.

"Can you show me?" he asked. I looked over to see his eyes staring at me and illuminated by the stars above. I snorted.

"I thought you didn't understand the stars" I said, stiffling a laugh. Natsu frowned.

"You make me sound dumb" he said, huffing. I could tell he was pouting.

"No, you know thats not true. I ment to say I thought you didn't care about them" I said, trying to re-word what I previously said.

"Well I don't but I also can't sleep and the only thing I have to do is looking up at the stars so, might as well learn something about them" Natsu replied, placing his hands behind his head like a pillow.

"Alright fine then" I said. I grabbed Natsu's wrist and he pointed his finger. "Right see those stars there that make a odd looking dimond and there's like a little bit on the end?" I asked, tracing out the lines between the stars with Nastu's hand.

"Oh the little ones?" he replied.

"Yeah, thats Lyra"

"Who's Lyra?" Natsu asked, confused. I facepalmed.

"The harp girl? I barely ever use her so you probably don't remember her. She sings songs" I replied.

"Wait, was she the one who was singing at Galuna Island and Gray started crying?" he asked, obviously straining to remember.

"Yeah thats her!" I said, excited that Natsu got one of the stars.

"Lets do another one"

"Okay see those eight stars that look like an odd cup-" I was using his hand to trace out the lines. "-and the fourth star from the end has an extra two attached?" I was hoping he got this one, even though it was kinda hard,

"Yeaaah... Wait, yes, now I see it"

"Well thats Virgo" I said, smiling. Natsu gasped.

"Like 'will you punish me?' Virgo" he asked. I nodded and turned to see Natsu smiling in the dark. This close, I could see his pointed canines in his smile. I shook my head slightly and continued to point out constellations for Natsu. We found Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius's tail, Capricorn, Ophiuchus ('snake-doctor-lady', as Natsu called her) and Libra.

"What about Loke and Crab guy and Bull guy?" he asked after we found most of them.

"Their on the other hemisphere. What we are looking at now is the southern hemisphere. Taurus, Cancer and Loke are on the northern hemisphere". Natsu gave me an 'Ooohh' in response.

"Can you show me the other stars here?" he asked. I grabbed his hand again and traced out the constellations. We found Hercules and Hydra before I felt Natsu's arm go lax. Peeking over, I saw Natsu had fallen asleep and was softly snoring. I retracted my arms inside my sleeping bag and let sleep drop my eyelids, following Natsu into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

 **NEXT MORNING**

Birds twittered as I woke up. The sky above me was pink and orange, meaning the sun had just risen. The morning air was crisp and dew had formed on the grass, making it shimmer in the sun light. I looked over to my side to find Natsu's empty sleeping bag. _'I wonder where he went'_ I thought before slipping out of my sleeping back and stretching my muscles out. I looked around the camp for Natsu. The fire was out, Felix and Aiko where still here, I couldn't hear splashing from the pond. I had no idea where he was. I shrugged before walking over to the makeshift washing line to grab the clothes I washed on yesterday. I was currently in a pair of shorts and a singlet I had been wearing since yesterday afternoon. Whilst on my way to the line, I slipped on the dewy grass.

"KYAAA!" I cried as I slipped and fell into an oh-so-convenient puddle of mud. I cursed as I felt my back, legs and hair become covered in mud. Groaning, I picked myself up and walked over to the pond before stripping down to my panties and bra. I washed the mud out of my clothes and then proceeded to strip down completely and wash myself. The waterfall, as I discovered, makes a lovely shower and I stood under it, washing my hair and singing quietly to myself. A pair of hands surpised me as they grabbed my hips.

"AHHHHHH!" I screamed before turning around and slapping my attacker. Natsu stood behind me with a red welt on his face.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU PERVET?!" I yelled, covering my chest with my arms. my bottom half was covered by the bubbles from the waterfall. Natsu looked at me before his faced turned red.

"I was going to surprise you but I didn't know you were taking a shower..." he trailed off. I huffed.

"Yeah well couldn't you see I'm kinda NAKED HERE!" I said, yelling to emphasise the end. Natsu wasn't looking at my eyes anymore. "Oi, eyes up here!" I yelled, grabbing Natsu's attention. He looked up, face going redder and redder by the second.

"Oh sorry. So um, yeah, uh, I'm just gonna be, um, over at the, uh, camp" he stuttered before diving off the bank we were on and swimming back over to our camp. I glared at him before returning to my shower.

 **NATSU'S POV**

' _WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING_ ' my mind screamed at me. ' _I WALKED IN ON HER IN THE MIDDLE OF HER SHOWER! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING NATSU!?_ ' my mind repeatedly screamed at me. That encounter has to be in my top ten awkward moments. I mean it's bad enough that I grabbed her but I started staring at her boobs too! But she was staring at my crotch yesterday so I guess we can call it even.

I sighed, going over to the clothesline and grabbing my clothes from yesterday. I heated up my body to dry off my boxers and quickly got changed into my normal coat and pants. I grabbed Lucy's clothes and a towel and placed them on the bank where I found her clothes, which were soaking wet. I took the liberty of drying them off with my heat. Using the water as mirror, I spiked my hair up, using the heat from my hands as a straightener. Once finished, I returned to our camp and started making breakfast.

I had been out on an early morning walk and discovered another clearing close to ours. It was still dark when I was walking so I trained there for about an hour or so. While walking back, I came across a patch of strawberries. I grabbed as many as I could and then came back to the camp. ' _The strawberries would be a nice suprise for Lucy and I could use them as an appology'_ I thought. Sometimes my brain had great ideas. I grabbed the oats and musili and combined them into two bowls. I left Lucy's strawberries out because I didn't know how much she would want.

"Hey Natsu, thanks for drying my clothes for me" Luce said from behind me. I continued to eat my breakfast.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked as Lucy sat down on one of the rocks we had moved for seats.

"Well they were wet when I left them and dry when I returned. Duh, who else has fire magic in these woods?" she replied, pretending to act dumb. I glared at her and then looked the other way. She noticed the bowl of stawberries.

"What are those?" she asked, pointing at the chopped up strawberries.

"Oh I went for a walk this morning and found these. Their super tasty" I replied, munch on my musili. "I thought you'd like them as a surprise" I said, giving her a huge smile. She smiled softly back.

"Oh thats lovely Natsu but I wont be able to eat them". I felt my face shatter like a mirror.

"What? Why?" I spluttered.

"I'm allergic to that specific species of strawberry. They have white spots on the leaves and are found in deep forests like this one. I appreciate the thought but I'm really sorry that I can't eat it" she said smiling.

' _ARGH WHY DO THINGS NOT GO THE WAY I PLAN THEM TO_ ' my mind shouted at me. I ignored it and looked over at Luce's strawberry bowl.

"So can I have your strawberries then?" I asked. Lucy nodded whilst eating her musili and I scoffed the whole bowl of stawberries. They were so good. After breakfast we pack up our gear, saddled the horses and walked down the forrest path. There were so many strange creatures in these woods that Lucy and I had never seen before. Weird birds and small animals walked infront of us numerous times. My only explanation to the weird animals was because of how close we were to Bosco's borders. One thing I definately noticed was that the further we walked, the quieter and darker our surroundings became.

"Hey Luce?"

"Yeah?"

"What are we gonna do when we get there" I asked her. Most missions we went on, I would bust out the old 'Fire Dragon's Iron Fist' and burn all the bad guys down. But this time was different. This quest gave off a different vibe, like 'one wrong move and you die' vibe. Somehow, I reckoned that my usual approach wouldn't be the wisest idea.

"Well, I guess we find a quiet, non-noticable place to camp out and do some reconissance and get some information about what we're dealing with" Lucy replied. You can always rely on Lucy to be the levelheaded one.

"But what do we do after we get all our information?" I asked.

"We bust in and take'em out!" she said, fist pumping. I grinned at her.

"Yeah! I'm gonna be all fired up!" I replied, saying my infamous catchphrase. We both laughed together. Our laughter was abruptly stopped when Aiko refused to go any further.

"Come on, Aiko. What's wrong?" she said to her steed, trying to get her to move forward. Aiko stood still in her spot with her ears flattened

"See! Not only does my horse hate me, but your's hates you too!" I jeered whilst Felix continued walking. Lucy glared at me and continued to try and coax Aiko to look forward.

"Felix loves me. Don't you-" I went to hug Felix's neck but was stopped when I noticed his ears too were flattened. I turned back to see that Lucy had gotten Aiko to walk forward. However, Aiko did not look happy. Lucy caught up again and we walked onward with our horses hanging their heads low in fear. A thick fog had begun to surround us as we walked on.

"I don't know whats up with them..." Lucy muttered, rubbing Aiko's neck in reasurance.

"Animals can sense things that we can't" I replied, looking on into our rapidly dimishing view infront of us.

"Could that mean they are sensing something bad?" she asked, worry plastered on her face.

"Quite possibly". Just as I had said that, something hit my senses like a brick wall. The stench of death was all around us, clouding up alot of my other senses. I coughed and used my scarf to cover my mouth and nose. Lucy turned around and sent me a questioning look.

"What are you doing?"

"All around us reeks of death. I think this is what the horses could smell" I muffled through my scarf. By now the fog was as thick as it could be. We could no longer see any further than 5 metres away from us. My dragon senses would have been able to help us navigate through but the smell around us was messing everything up. Something snapped on the side of the track. Aiko snorted before bolting off into the fog. I coud hear Lucy yelping as they became further and further away from us. I kicked Felix and we chased off after them. We hit a pocket of fog where it wasn't as thick and we could see Lucy and Aiko at a standstill about 10 metres away from us.

"Lucy! Your okay!" I said, relieved that she hadn't had an accident of anykind. We walked quickly over to the duo standing in the middle of the track. This place especially reeked strongly of death.

"What the hell happened back there? Are you alr-" I was cut off when I saw Lucy's face. She was starring dead ahead, her face paling by the second.

"Lucy? What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost" I said, worry evident in my tone now. She turned slowly and looked at me. Terrified eyes starring into mine.

"Natsu..." she trailed quietly, her voice shaking. Her arm rose and pointed out infront of us. I followed her arm to see it was pointing out. My eyes adjusted to the fog to see a sign about 5 metres infront of us. When I realised what she had been so worked up about, my stomach dropped. The sign was written in black writing that read ' **DELFIEOR** '. Above it however, was a severed head, impaled by a spike.


	4. Chapter 4 - Mysteries and Secrets

**A/N: I know, I know, I suck. This chapter is total crap because nothing cool happens. Sorry all about the late-ness, I get distracted veeeerryyy easily so this took way longer than I thought. Oh look a birdy!  
**

 **Anyway, without further adue, here is Chapter 4 of ARTR :) xxxx**

 **(BTW I am not worthy of owning Fairy Tail. All praise goes to the mighty Hiro Mashima. OC's and made up places are my creations)**

* * *

 **Recap:**

"Natsu..." she trailed quietly, her voice shaking. Her arm rose and pointed out in front of us. I followed her arm to see it was pointing out. My eyes adjusted to the fog to see a sign about 5 metres in front of us. When I realised what she had been so worked up about, my stomach dropped. The sign was written in black writing that read ' **DELFIEOR** '. Above it however, was a severed head, impaled by a spike.

* * *

 **NATSU POV**

I felt sick. I don't get sick often (not counting motion sickness) and to say that I wanted to throw up and that it wasn't due to motion sickness, was a really rare thing for me. The second I saw the sign, I turned my head away and covered my mouth with my scarf. Lucy was frozen in her position, starring into the wide eyes of severed head. She was becoming paler and paler by the second. I turned to look at Lucy but made the mistake of looking at the head. The head look liked it belonged to a middle aged man, maybe late twenties or early thirties, his blonde hair was caked in old blood and his face was one of pure terror; eyes wide and mouth hanging open. What looked like dried blood, ran down the front of the sign, stemming from the base of the spike that his head was impaled on.

Disgusted and unable to look anymore, I grabbed Aiko's reins and steered her away, walking down the path to Delfieor. I turned around to look at Lucy. Her face was white, she was shaking, barely able to sit in the saddle, and her eyes were starring dead ahead. I quickly led the horses to the side of the path with the fog now covering where the sign was. I jumped off Felix and ran around to Aiko's side, slipping Luce's feet out of the stirrups so she could be removed easily. I grabbed her waist and slid her down off the saddle. She was really light so I had no trouble carrying her to a nearby tree stump and sitting her on my lap.

"Lucy?" I said, trying to get her attention. Her eyes fluttered shut and I felt her body begin to shake violently. She was having a panic attack. How did I know she was having one? I use to get them as a kid after Igneel left me. I took hold of her head to stop it from rolling around and held her securely in my arms.

"Shh, Luce, it's okay" I whispered, holding her hand in mine and cradling her as she shook violently. She continued this for a good minute or so. The shaking subsided and I felt her hand squeeze mine. As if on instinct, she latched her arms around my neck and buried her face into my scarf. I was frozen in my spot until I could feel her body shaking again. This time, from crying. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her and rocked us back and forth, whispering reassuring things to her. We stayed like that for a few minutes until she slid down to rest on my chest.

"Lucy? Are you here now?" I asked gently, being careful not to use my usual harsh voice with her. I felt her nod against my chest as my hand subconsciously stroked hair away from her face.

"Natsu... what are we doing here?" she croaked, her voice dry from crying. She looked up and I could see her eyes, red from crying. Her face, however, had regained its flushed pink colour again.

"I really don't know..." I said trailing off. I felt her sniffle again. "But, all I know is that there are people in that town who have suffered for thirty years under some wacked up organisation and they need our help" I continued, finding new courage in my voice. Lucy smiled through her tears at me and felt my insides warm up.

"Yeah, silly me. What am I thinking" she said, chuckling with a blocked nose and wiping the tears that were running down her face away. Her smile went back to frown again. "But Natsu, what's gonna happen to us? I don't want to end up like that man. I don't want to die. I don't want you to die" she sobbed again, nuzzling her face back into my scarf again. My stomach dropped at her words. I rubbed her back and sighed softly.

"Hey, it's gonna be alright. I promise right here and now that you and I will make it out of this. I'm not gonna die and you're not gonna die either. Hell, I wouldn't let you die" I said. My mind instantly went back to the memory of Future Lucy dying in front of me. Even though it was her future self, it still terrified me. Lucy pulled back and looked at me, smiling softly. I closed my eyes and placed my hand on the back of her head, and leaned in so my forehead was touching hers. Usually I'm not one for intimate stuff and I knew I would have had hell to pay if Gray had seen me like this, but when Lucy's crying, I want to do everything in my power to make her smile again. I felt Lucy hum lightly.

"What was that thing you told me back in Rythor..." she said softly. I could hear the smile in her voice. "Oh I remember, Natsu and Lucy forever" she laughed slightly. I smiled and opened my eyes to see her brown ones staring intently at my own. I grinned my infamous grin and pulled away.

"Yup! That's right! Because we are team!" I cheered, fist pumping in the air. Lucy laughed and I felt my insides heat up and do triple flips. Lucy stood up and stretched out her muscles whilst I went over to Felix and gave him a scratch. Surprisingly, this time my affection wasn't met with a snap.

"Are you ready to go?" I heard Lucy's voice come from somewhere behind me. I turned around to see Lucy standing with Aiko. Her face had definitely regained its colour and the signs that she had been crying were slowly disappearing.

"Yeah I'm all good to go. Are you okay to keep going though?" I asked, concern clearly evident in my voice. Lucy laughed.

"I'm fine now. And don't sound so concerned, it doesn't suit you" she said, chuckling. I huffed and mounted Felix whilst Lucy did the same with Aiko. The fog was still extremely thick and we relied on Lucy's navi sphere to guide us on, with my dragon senses staying alert for any movement around us. However, after a few hours of walking, Lucy's gadget started playing up.

"What are you doing?" I asked when I saw Lucy tapping her fingers against the glass sphere in her hand.

"Stupid thing is spinning out of control" she mumbled, trying to make it work again.

"Maybe it's broken?" I reasoned. Lucy shook her head.

"No, this thing is brand new. I highly doubt that a brand new navi sphere would break three days into a trip. There must be a magic barrier around us that is messing with the magnetism in this area" she rambled on. I frowned and scratched my head. I opened my mouth to ask but Lucy cut me off. "And before you ask, magnetism is what makes navi spheres work. I'm not going to explain that now though" she said, not bothering to look at me as she tapped away on her sphere. I pouted and we continued on walking. The fog was super thick and was difficult to navigate through with just senses alone. We found another sign further along, this one less 'disgusting' that the previous one. On this one read; **"WELCOME TO DELFIEOR. LARGEST MINE IN NORTHERN FIEORE. POPULATION: 5000. HOME TO THE MAGICAL WOODLANDS"**. It was around midday so we unloaded all our packs off the horses near the sign and had lunch.

"I thought there were only 3000 people in Delfieor? And the old man never mentioned anything about it being a mining town" I said, taking a bite out of some smoked fish I had made last night at our camp.

"Maybe he just forgot" she replied, biting into her apple.

"But you can't really just forget 2000 people and what a town does for tourism" I said, propping my head up with my hand. Lucy opened her mouth to respond but was stopped by a loud screeching noise. The air around us vibrated and the atmosphere felt like it was being crushed against us. Birds flew out of the trees and our horses reared and kicked. I dropped to the floor, clutching my head in agony as Lucy ran to calm the horses. Somehow, the noise wasn't affecting Lucy as much as it was to me. When my head stopped pounding and the noise had subsided, I got up and looked around at our surroundings. Lucy was over at our packs, putting away her lunch. Something was missing and it finally clicked.

"Hey Luce, where are our horses?" I asked, looking around for any sign of Felix and Aiko.

"They bolted off during the noise. I tried to calm them but they just turned tail and ran" she said rubbing her head.

"Speaking of that noise, what the hell was that?!" I asked, kinda peeved about the massive headache I had coming on.

"I suspect it could have been a magic spell. What makes me wonder though is why it affected you and not me" she said, rubbing her chin in curiosity. I walked over and slung my pack over my back.

"Well you can wonder about it whilst we walk. We're gonna be longer now that we don't have our horses" I said, slinging my pack over my shoulder noticing a mile marker with '3 MILES' on it before moving on. Lucy sighed at the sight of the marker and followed suit, walking into the thick fog.

* * *

 **NO POV**

Levy had just walked into the guild after completing a job with her team, Shadow Gear. Jet and Droy ran out of magic during their battle and Levy had to save them whilst battling two monsters. Levy was pissed but after some convincing and a trip to a book stote in the town they were in, Levy was all sunshine and rainbows. In her hands was a book that she and Lucy had desperately been trying to find for months now.

"Hello Levy, welcome back" called Kianna from behind the bar.

"Oh hey Kianna" Levy said, waving and plopping herself down on one of the bar stools.

"How was your quest?" Kianna asked, smiling at her whilst cleaning the bar bench.

"Well it wasn't easy but we made it through. And Jet and Droy were so kind and brought me a book" Levy exclaimed, holding the book in the air with sparkles in her eyes. Kianna chuckled.

"Would that be the book you've been trying to find for the last few months?" she asked, giggling slightly. Levy went to reply but was cut off by another guild member beckoning Kianna over to the other end of the bar. Kianna quickly apologized and went to where she had been summoned.

Levy flicked through the first few pages of the book. It was a fictional mystery story she and Lucy had been trying to find for ages, and because the book was out of publication, it was incredibly hard to track down. But with a stroke of luck, Levy managed to find the infamous book in the small book store in the tiny town she, Jet and Droy were staying in for their quest. Levy began to read the first chapter and stopped halfway through to look up around the bar. Kianna was serving Elfman and Cana down on the far end of the bar with Macao and Wakaba sitting not too far away from them. The guild was strangely silent, mostly due to the fact that Team Natsu wasn't there, who, she had guessed, had all gone out on quests.

She was about to look back down at her book when she caught a sight of Mira in the kitchen. She looked different. There wasn't the same radiant glow that was emitted off her or the cheerful aura that surrounded her. As she was placing some snacks in a bowl, she looked up and caught Levy's gaze. At first she looked stunned and then smiled possibly the fakest smile Levy had ever seen. Levy just smiled back as Mirajane brought the bowl of snacks over to where Levy was sitting.

"Hey Levy, you back already? How did your quest go?" Mira asked in her cheerful voice. Levy could definitely tell something was wrong. Her voice sounded strained, as if trying to be happy was emotionally straining, her eyes were slightly red from crying recently and barely noticeable bags were beginning to form underneath her eyes, probably from a lack of sleep. Levy groaned.

"Yeah we got back maybe 2 hours ago. Jet and Droy ran out of magic halfway through a battle so I had to save all three of our butts" Levy mumbled, hitting her head on the bench. Mira chuckled.

"But they are always the best quests to go on. And it looks like you brought a souvenir too" she said, tapping on the cover of Levy's book which lay on the bench. Levy instantly perked up and hugged her book, with hearts forming in her eyes.

"Oh yes! Jet and Droy were just so kind to buy me this book that I have been searching for, for ages!" Levy fangirled, swinging to and fro in her chair, rocking her beloved book.

"Are you sure you didn't black mail them into buying that" Mira asked, laughing slightly. Levy stopped and looked at Mira, slightly sheepishly.

"Oh what would make you think that? I would never do something like that" Levy replied innocently, batting her eyelashes. Mira giggled.

"Don't worry, your secrets safe with me" Mira whispered, leaning in and winking at Levy who stuck her tongue out in response.

"So what's the book about?" Mira asked, leaning back behind the counter.

"It's a fiction/mystery story about a serial murderer in a town who kills everyone off, but everyone is killed slowly so nobody really notices until they only have a few people left and all the deaths are recreations of how famous people have died. I don't know the ending because I haven't read it yet but I can't wait find the culprit" Levy explained, getting enthusiastic about her book. Mira strained a smile.

"Oh it sounds really really good. I hope you enjoy reading it" Mira said in an obvious fake cheerful voice.

"I know I will, and so will Lucy. She's also been looking for this book too. I can't wait for her to get back so I can tell her that I have the book" said Levy. Mira flinched and her face twisted into one of panic. She looked like she was beginning to dry heaving. She covered her mouth and began coughing to mask the constant lurches her body was making. Levy realised Mira was masking something serious.

"Oh my goodness, Mira?! Are you alright?!" she asked, trying to help the white haired mage. Mira nodded.

"Oh yes _*cough*_ I'm _*cough*_ all good" Mira coughed from behind the bar.

"I've _*cough*_ gotta go _*cough*_ take care of this _*cough*_ sorry" the demon soul mage explained.

"Wait! Mira!" Levy cried, holding out her hand to stop her. Mira, however had already left, holding her mouth and dashing into the kitchen, out of Levy's view. Levy stood still, trying to process what had just happened. Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand ruffling up her hair

"Hey Shrimp. You look like you've lost something" came a deep, rusty voice from behind her. She turned around to so the one and only, Gajeel Redfox, Fairy Tail's second dragon slayer. Levy scowled, before pushing away Gajeel's massive hand and fixing her hair.

"Oh it's nothing" Levy said, smiling up at giant towering over her. Gajeel frowned, making the piercings on his face move and scrunch up together.

"You're lying" Gajeel said bluntly.

"How do you know that?" Levy replied, sassily.

"People release different scents for different emotions. A dragon slayers nose can pick up these scents and determine how a person is feeling based on that information" Gajeel replied in a 'matter-of-factly' way.

"So you can tell if someone is lying purely off the smell from that person?" she asked, slightly sarcastic and a little bit intrigued. Gajeel nodded.

"Yup. Also, you reek" Gajeel said. Levy, misinterpreting his comment, huffed and turned her back to Gajeel with her face burning and tears pricking in her eyes. Gajeel realised what he said and panicked.

"Oh- I didn't mean that you like 'reek' reek, I meant I could tell how you were feeling by your smell. Don't cry" Gajeel blurted out, his face turning red as he rambled on. Levy understood what he meant and turned back around, stopping the babbling dragon slayer who desperately was trying to retain his cool.

"So um, yeah, Mira's acting funny" Gajeel said, trying to regain his usually cold, hard persona. Levy smiled slightly at his awkwardness.

"Yeah, I noticed that too. She's not telling me something" she said, placing her bookmark in her book and closing it shut.

"From what I could smell, she's stressed and slightly depressed. There was a hint of salt there too, probably from crying, and also the underlying scent of guilt" Gajeel explained.

"You know, I kinda guessed that without having to smell her" Levy stated. Gajeel glared at her but let her proceed on.

"It's interesting though, she was faking her entire mood when she was talking to me and she held it pretty well. But what's most interesting is her reaction when I mentioned Lucy. It was almost like mentioning her name made her feel sick..." Levy explained, pondering the situation.

"Maybe Mira got in a fight with Bunny Girl and just hearing her name makes her sick?" Gajeel reasoned. Levy punched him and then glared at him.

"You're an idiot, you know?" she hissed at him whilst he looked at her dumbfounded.

"Mira and Lucy would never get into a fight. It must be something that happened whilst I was gone" Levy reasoned.

"And what's the bet that Flame Brain is involved in this?" Gajeel asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow at the bluenette. He knew how much Levy loved getting in on bets. Levy matched his smirk.

"100 jewel says that he isn't part of this" she said with the smug look gracing her lips.

"100 jewel and the loser doing the winners bidding says he is" Gajeel cockily replied.

"Well looks like we'll need to discuss these terms during your lesson" Levy said, getting up from her stool, grabbing her book and dragging Gajeel through the guild to the exit. Gajeel huffed.

"Do we have to do this at your dorm?" he whined.

"Unless you are suggesting we do this in your dorm where Gray and Elfman can hear me teaching you how to read, then yeah sure, be my guest" Levy replied in a smug tone. Gajeel knew she had a point and grunted at her in agreeance whilst she pulled him towards the Fairy Hills Girls dormitory. In the back of Levy's mind, the incident with Mira and Lucy was still a bundle of unanswered questions nagging at her. She shook her head and pushed the incident further into the back of her mind, ignoring any worries she may have had.

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

Saying I was rattled was an understatment. I was constantly asking Natsu if he smelled anything funny coming up ahead and he constantly, and calmly, replied 'no'. Natsu had also somehow turned into a human shield as I walked close behind him. The path we took was continuously surrounded in fog. It was so thick, that Natsu and I didn't even realise we had walked through a narrow canyon. At what seemed like mid-afternoon however, we found ourselves standing with a large wooden gate looming over us with large stone walls circling around the sides. The fog in this area seemed to mysteriously disappear and for the first time in 6 hours, Natsu and I saw the sun. I gulped as I looked at the gigantic gate.

"So I take it this Delfieor?" Natsu stated. I nodded, too terrified to speak. Natsu turned to me.

"So what's next in the plan?" he asked. I roughly cleared my throat before speaking.

"We find somewhere to set up camp so we can observe the town beyond the walls" I explained. Natsu nodded in agreement before sniffing the air around us.

"I can't smell anyone around so we're good to camp around here" Natsu said. I shook my head.

"No, we can't stay near here, it's too obvious and we'll be spotted too easily" I explained whilst looking around. Our options currently were staying on the ground, camping in a tree, or staying on a nearby cliff which looked as though it over looked the town.

' _If we stayed on the ground, we could be easily caught, if we stayed in a tree, one of the branches would most likely give out and give away our position. So cliff it is!_ ' I thought to myself.

"There a cliff jutting out just on that rock wall. If we can get up there, we'll have a perfect outlook" I said. Natsu nodded and we walked towards the rock face. Natsu had to go up first so he could help me up a rope. One side of the town was surrounded by a vertical cliff face which sheltered the town from serious weather conditions.

The place where Natsu and I currently were staying was a cave with a slight edge jutting out halfway up the cliff face. It is practically invisible thanks to its great camouflage against the rocks and small foliage. We set up our gear and checked our rations

"So what do we do now?" asked Natsu, laying on his bed in our cave. The cave had a narrowish entrance but curved out in the back like a dome. Natsu and I had set our beds out on opposite sides from each other, with our food and everything in the middle on the back wall, and a small pile of coal in the centre of the small dome cave.

"Completing surveillance from up in the cave" I replied, removing my shoes and wondering around the barren cave.

"But that's so boring. Can't we do something else?" Natsu whined in protest. I rolled my eyes before sitting down on my own bed parallel to Natsu's.

"Well what do you suggest we do then?" I asked. Natsu sat up and looked as though he was thinking deeply.

"I don't know, I'm drawing a blank" he huffed after a few minutes, before flopping down on his bed. I laid down on mine too and we laid in silence for 20 minutes or so. I heard Natsu rouse from his short nap with a yawn.

"Okay rules about this cave!" I announced, jumping up from my bed. Natsu looked at me grumpily from his awakened form.

"Rule 1: Your stuff stays on your side and my stuff stays on mine. You are not allowed to go through the others stuff without permission" I said. Natsu sleepily nodded in agreement, too groggy to respond.

"Rule 2: Only go to the bathroom if you really need to. We want to avoid going out of the cave as much as possible" I said.

"But what if you have a bad bladder?" Natsu asked.

"Then you'll just have to hang on" I replied.

"But what if you get the runs?"

"We'll cross that bridge if we get there"

"But what if you need to wa-"

"God damn it Natsu, stop asking questions! You don't have a weak bladder, you won't get diarrhea and I don't even want to know what that last one was, but my answer is no to it" I snapped. Natsu recoiled before shrinking back down again. I took a deep breath and calmed myself before continuing on.

"Rule 3: No making loud noises or lighting any fires" I said. Natsu sniggered.

"Does that mean you just broke your own rule?" he smugly asked. I glared at him.

"Rules will come into action after this meeting" I replied sticking my tongue out at him. Natsu stuck his tongue out at me in response.

"What about lighting my hand on fire?" he asked.

"That's fine, it's just lighting anything other than the coal on fire that's not allowed" I replied.

"Oh and Rule 4: We will take turns in doing surveillance" I said, finishing up the list of rules I had compiled. Natsu sighed.

"This is going to be so boring" he moaned, burying his head in his hands.

"Well, I guess you would be glad to take the first surveillance shift" I said happily. Natsu glared at me.

"You suck" he muttered before dragging himself to the entrance of our cave whilst I giggled at his dismay.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Little Girl From Town

**A/N: Hey you lucky ducks, guess who finished a chapter in one day? Oh yeah, this chick did! Without further awaiting, here is Chapter 5 of ARTR.**

 **WARNING: This chapter has mentions of rape and a slightly gory scene towards the end. Read at your own risk if you are effected by any of these.**

 **Enjoy my lovelies xxx :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima is god**

* * *

 **? POV**

Today was another horrible day.

It's always the same here. Get up, Eat, Work, Eat, Sleep. Not a lot of play time and not much fun. The remaining older ones say I'm lucky. Maybe because I'm young or maybe because I work above land rather than in the mines. It doesn't make much sense to me so I don't really care.

Today was a horrible day, but today we had break time. It's been ages since any of my friends and I have had break time. We played this cool game called soccer, which we learnt from one of the boys. Apparently his dad taught him how to play.

"Anya! Pass it here" I yelled, running alongside my friend as she ran with the ball, rolling in front of her and occasionally being kicked by her bare feet. Our 'soccer ball' was made with scarp pieces of leather sewn together and stuffed with old, torn rags.

Anya kicked the ball but accidentally passed to the boy in front of me, Pas. Pas made a quick turn and headed towards me. I took my chance and stole the ball away from him, surprising him and his team. My team cheered and yelled as I sprinted towards our goals, made out of two wooden posts stuck into the ground. The boys struggled to catch up to me as I ran as fast as my legs would take me. I winded back my foot and kicked the ball with all my might, making the ball soar through our goals. My team cheer and I ran a victory lap around our dirt pitch, holding my arms out like a soaring bird as I ran. My team caught up to me and threw me up in the air, cheering.

"DEE! DEE! DEE!" they all cheered in celebration of our win. Our opposition, staying very sportsman like, came over and congratulated us. Dex, their captain, came over and congratulated me.

"Good game, Dee" Dex said with a smile, holding out his hand to be shaken.

"Same to you" I replied, smiling and shaking his hand.

* * *

"He likeeesss you, Dee"

"No way! He's just a friend!"

"He totally likes you"

"Oh shut your trap" I replied, lowering my vase into the creek to collect water. Beside me was my best friend, Ria. We've been together ever since we were born and we were lucky enough to be scheduled the same duties.

"They don't call you 'Aphrodite' for nothing, you know" Ria said, filling up her vase as well in the running stream. I splashed some water at her and she glared at me. Ria had blonde curly hair which was rarely ever tied up, thanks to its wild ways. She also had very blue-green eyes and her skin was only slightly darker than mine.

"That's not my real name though!" I complained, lifting my vase from the water, looking at my reflection in the deep vase. I had long brown wavy hair that flowed like smoke down my back and large bits the fell on my face at the front. Most days I had it in a plait that came down all the way to my bum. My eyes were almost the same blue-green as Ria's, maybe even greener and my skin was like a really, really light brown.

"I'm just joking with you, Dee" Ria replied, struggling to hold her vase as we started to walk back into the town. Ria and I had been put on water duty which meant carrying big jugs of water to and from the town when someone needed it. Because we were apparently 'too young', we were allowed outside of the walls to fetch the water. This return would make this our 7th run today. The sun was setting so we knew this would be our last delivery.

"Here you are, Gran-gran Cass" I said placing my vase down in front of one of the towns' elders, Cass. Ria did the same before coming back and standing next to me.

"Why thankyou girls. Here, before you go, take these to your parents. Their remedial tea's to revive their muscles" Gran-gran Cass said before handing us a bag each. She then blessed us with her leafy branch and we left the elders house.

"Talk about a strange lady" Ria said.

"I think she's nice" I replied smiling.

"But what's the thing with the branch? If I wanted to, I could go to the stream, get a branch, brush your head with it and call it a blessing" Ria said, making me laugh along with her. We walked through the houses until we had to go our separate ways. Houses were small wooden huts that were almost right next to each other with no room for the streets. The streets also were just tiny, winding dirt paths that turned to mud when it rained. I arrived at the little wooden house that was home to me, my father and my older brother. My brother isnt around alot and so I don't really get to see him often.

"I'm home!" I called out into the dark house.

"Hi sweetie, how was your day?" my father called from somewhere nearby in the house.

"It was okay" I called back, placing the little woven bag on the small rickety, wooden table. My father emerged from the second room in our house. His brown hair was long but not too long and his face was smeared with soot from working down in the mines. He had muscles which were hidden beneath his loose cotton clothes that looked too big for him. He ran up to me and lifted me up in the air.

"Ahh my baby girl! How I missed you today" he cooed as he held me high up in the air. I squealed and giggled.  
"Dad! Put me down!" I cried in between laughs. Dad lowered me a little and kissed my cheeks.

"You've been growing again, haven't you? I think I need to put more rocks on your head" he joked, heaving and throwing me up into the air.

"Daddd!" I whined, still laughing. Dad finally put me down and put his hand on top of my small head.

"But seriously Dee, stop growing. You're making your Papa feel old" he said, grinning and messing up my hair.

"Daddddd, I need to grow. I can't be nine and short forever" I said, pushing away his hand and fixing up the loopy strands which had fallen loose. Dad put his hand on his heart and stumbled backwards.

"Urgh I feel so old! My baby girl is getting old! I think my heart is giving out!" he cried in faked pained voice. I ran up and tackled my Father wrapping my arms around him, or in my case, his stomach

"I'm always gonna be your baby girl, Dad" I said into his cotton tunic. He leant down and returned my hug.

"I know that, just don't grow old too quickly" he replied. I smiled and heard him mumble something along the lines of "Just don't turn out like me"

"Hmm?" I asked, pulling back. Dad smiled sheepishly.

"I need to get supper going" he said, avoiding my question.

"I got a ration raise today! We got extra vegetables and bread" he called to me, walking around the thin wooden wall to our stove.

* * *

I got two servings of soup tonight instead of half a serving and I had fresh bread (well maybe 4 day old bread, but that's considered fresh around here). The place we live in is called Delfieor. There are pretty forests the surround it and very deep coal mines. We are governed by a group called 'Vichama', but everyone calls them 'Vic' for short. No one has ever seen the boss of the Vichama but everyone knows where he or she is; behind the tall brick wall at the top Delfieor.

There are guards all around the town. They have the right to tease us, beat us and spit on us. One of my friends, Ruby, made a doll out of scrap wood and some old rags. The guards caught her with it and destroyed her little doll, before beating her until she was almost dead. Witnesses say that the guards were laughing as she screamed. I've never been hurt by the guards and I don't want to be so I always act good around them.

The town is divided up into areas or sections. Dad and I currently live in the 3rd section in our little 2 roomed wooden house. Ria lives in the 5th section which is a little bit further away. Both of our parents work relentlessly down in the mines for 10 hours or more just down earn enough rations to feed a family. Even now and again, Dad gets a raise and we get to have more than one serving, like tonight.

We cleaned up dinner and both went to bed. Dad sleeps in the other small room in the house and I sleep in the attic. It's cold in my thin sack dress but I warm up quickly in my bed of hay. I reached to the hole in the roof and point at the sky, joining up the stars with invisible lines. I don't know what I'm trying to make but I like to do this some nights when it's clear. The scuffed metal on my cuff shines in the moon light. I don't know why I have to wear these bracelets. Not a lot of people wear them either so it's rare to see people with them. Those who wear these cuffs get looks from everyone, especially the elders. I've had mine ever since I can remember. They are a part of me that has grown up but I don't know why I can't take them off.

I hear banging a few houses away from us. I scramble to the wall and peek through a hole in the wood. There is some shouting and screaming and I can see the flicker of a torch. I see the faces of a wailing woman and 4 guards. There's more yelling around us and I can hear guards coming towards our house. I panic and jump back onto my bed, burying myself in the hay. The door is kicked down and I can hear drunk guards stumbling into our house demanding any girls. I hear dad come out and deny having any girls in this house. The snort and I can hear them beginning to search the house.

 _'It's a raid!'_ I thought, lying as still as possible in the hay. I heard from some of the teenage girls about the raids. Drunk guards come into the sections and take girls, from the ages of 6-20, and do bad things to them. They couldn't tell me because I'm too young but they said the things they do are really scary and they hurt. I hear someone climb into the attic. I lie as still as I possibly can, holding my breath. After a few minutes of looking around, I can hear the footsteps walking towards the ladder and going down into the main room. A piece of hay manages its way into my nose and causes me the sneeze.

"I heard something!" yelled a drunk guard from downstairs. I sneezed again.

"There's a girl here! Grab her!" yelled another as someone clambered up into the attic. I was grabbed by rough hands and dragged down the ladder.

"No! Please don't take her! She's too young!" my Dad screamed as the guards restrained him from trying to get me. The man holding me lifted up my chin so he could inspect me.

"Don't worry, she'll come back, just maybe not in one piece" he said, slurring his words. I could smell beer in his breath.

"Please! Take my rations, take my clothes, but please, don't rape her! She's too young!" Dad begged. The men holding him snickered and kicked him to the floor. I wriggled and screamed.

"Put me down!" I yelled, stomping my foot down on the guards boot. He slapped my cheek hard and laughed as he held my hands up higher so I was off the ground.

"Awh we got a little feisty one. You're not going to be so feisty when I'm done pounding you" he said, hissing the last words at me. I opened my mouth and screamed as loud as I could before my mouth was clamped over.

"Shut it you little bitch" the guard snapped at me. I looked into the scarred eyes of my father. His eyes pleaded for me to escape. I took a chance and sunk my teeth into the guard's hand, hard enough to make his hand bleed. He said some bad words before dropping me and holding his hand.

"Run Dee!" my father yelled. I took off and ran as fast as my feet would take me all the way through the sections. I headed towards the one place they wouldn't look.

The creek.

At night, the gates to the river are closed, but there is a hole in the stone wall just small enough for me to squeeze through. I spat out blood that had been left in my mouth and rubbed my cheek which was already swelling and turning purple. I crawled my way through the hole and came out on the other side of the wall and ran towards the running stream. I didn't stop and ran straight into the creek, falling into a shallow spot in the flowing stream. I clambered my way up the bank and sat on one of the large rocks, pulling my knees up to my chest.

 _'I wonder if all my friends are alright'_ I thought to myself as I stared into the river. The wind picked up slightly and felt a chill run down my spine. I remember that I was soaked through to the bone in my thin sack dress. My wet hair wasn't helping either. I began combing my fingers through it when I heard a rustling coming from a bush down the stream. I jumped down off my rock and hid behind it, watching the figure that was coming out of the bushes.

He wasn't a guard. He was a young man, maybe an older teenager. He looked really strong with the muscles showing in his arm, but the thing that caught my attention was his hair. His hair was spiky and pink. He walked over to the stream, bent over, and splashed some water in his face before slapping his cheeks lightly. His head went straight up and he looked as though he was on high alert. He looked like he was sniffing the air before looking around the area.

"I know your hiding" he said out loud, not looking in my direction. I sneeze lightly from the cold. I said some bad words at myself about sneezing at the worst times. The boy heard me and looked straight in my direction, his black, lizard like eyes staring at the boulder. I sneezed again. And again. And again. He dropped his stance and walked quietly over to me.

"Hey are you alright there" he said softly, trying not to scare me. I sneezed again, this time, walking out from behind my rock. The boy was a lot taller than me and he wore nice clothes. He had a long jacket fastened at the front with only one sleeve, white puffy pants and a white scarf that looked like it was made out of scales. He lowered himself down to my level.

"What are you doing out here, kid?" he asked.

"The guards were after me so I ran away" I replied. The boy gave me a funny look.

"What guards?" he asked with a confused expression. I stumbled back slightly. This boy was an outsider. We were always warned about outsiders. Apparently they were cruel and mean.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise" he said. My mind was telling me that this was a bad man and that he would hurt me, but when I looked into his eyes, I could tell he was being honest and he wanted to help me so my heart told me to stay with him.

"What happened to you?" he asked and he came slightly closer towards me, noticing my purple cheek, a light trail of blood running down the corner of my mouth and my wet figure.

"The guards tried to hurt me and I bit a guard and got away" I said, shivering. I sneezed lightly again. The boy looked panicked.

"Shit, you're probably freezing there. Here take my jacket and I'll warm you up" he said, quickly taking off his jacket and throwing it on top of me. The fabric was like nothing I had ever felt before. It was so soft and fine, like as though it was made for royalty. I put the coat on, which engulfed my tiny figure, and the boy sat cross legged in front of me, rubbing his hands together. A fire lit up in his hands and I jumped back behind the boulder.

"What was that?! What are you?!" I cried in terror. This night was too mentally straining for my little head. The boy held up his hands in a calming way but then put them behind him when he realised why I had gotten scared.

"It's okay, I promise I won't hurt you" he said calmly. I slowly moved away from the boulder and sat in front him, a metre away.

"What are you and what did you do with your hands?" I asked again.

"I'm a wizard" he replied. I looked at him confused.

"You don't know what a wizard is?" he asked curiously. I shook my head and he ran a hand through his hair. The truth was, I knew that wizards were special people with powers beyond anyone's imagination. The elders would tell the children stories of wizards and mages in the outside world.

"Well, a wizard is someone who can use magic. It can be elemental magic like water, ice, fire and earth or it can be special magic like celestial, beast or armor magic" he explained slowly.

"Do you have fire magic?" I asked.

"Yeah I do. Mines a special type though" he replied grinning. I sneezed.

"Oh crap, I need to get you warm. Don't freak out, okay? This is gonna get you warm" he said before lighting his hands on fire and directing the heat towards me. It felt all warm and fuzzy, like a nice big hug. I noticed when he was using his magic, there was a red emblem on his arm, like a tattoo.

"Oh kid, I never actually got your name. I'm Natsu" he said, as he made me turn around so he could dry my hair.

"I'm Dee" I said.

"D? As in the letter D?" Natsu replied.

"I don't know what you're talking about. My name is just Dee. Duh-eeee" I said, trying to spell it out.

"Wait, are you telling me you can't read?" he asked making me turn to the side so he could dry the rest of my hair. I nodded.

"Where are you from?" Natsu asked, getting more and more curious about me by the second.

"Line AR, Section 3, Delfieor" I replied on autopilot. Natsu stopped heating his hands for a moment.

"Wait your from Delfieor?"

"Yup"

"Like Delfieor with the brick walls surrounding it?" he said, pointing behind me to the massive stone wall looming over us. I nodded as Natsu stood up. He then offered me a hand up, which I took.

"Well then Dee, looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the next few weeks" Natsu said, offering me a grin.

"What do you mea-"

I was cut off by the sound of a bird call in the trees. Natsu went back into high alert before panicking slightly.

"Oh crap, I left Lucy there…"he mumbled quietly before looking at me being swallowed in his jacket.  
"Hey I gotta go back to my camp, but you can hang onto my jacket until the morning. Just leave it on a branch and I'll come get it. If you're lucky, we might see each other again!" he said before running into the bushes.

"Natsu! Wait!" I cried as he disappeared into the forest. I sat down next to the boulder, snuggling myself inside Natsu's jacket. It smelt of a wood fire and smoke, I smell I could now associate with security. I felt my eyelids grow heavy due to the adventures of this night. I closed my eyes and dreamt of a pink haired boy with fire powers.

* * *

I woke just as the sun had risen. It took me a few seconds to recall the events of last night. The guards, my escape, the boy and this jacket I was now wearing. I remember my promise and left the jacket hanging on a tree branch near the creek before walking back up the hole in the wall. I crawled back through and made my slow journey back to my house.

It seemed only the 3rd section was raided last night. Young girls and young women laid on the side of the path, some with clothes missing, others with most intact. Blood and white coloured liquid lay near each girl and the air smelt of sweat and tears was heavy through the air.

I reached my house to find the door bashed down from last night and my father in a crumpled heap on the floor. I panicked and quickly ran over to him, shaking him.

"Hey Dad? Dad? Dad wake up" I said, shaking him. He groaned and looked up to see me. One of his eyes were going purple and a dried trail of blood trickled down from his nose. Tears formed in his eyes as he saw my face. He sat up quickly and enveloped me in a hug.

"Oh Dee, I'm so glad you're alright" he sobbed into my head. I hugged him back and felt safe in my father's hold.

"It's alright Dad, I only got a bruise" I said, pointing to my purple cheek. Dad bend down and kissed it softly.

"There. Now it's all better" He said, cradling my head. We stayed like this for a few more minutes before the work day began. Dad had some of his work friends' help him move around after last night. I walked down to the 5th section and waited for Ria. I didn't see her coming as she tackled me from behind into a hug.

"Oh my god! I'm so glad you're alright! I heard about the raid in your section last night. What happened?!" she asked franticly. I explained to her everything that happened (minus Natsu) in which she told me I was so lucky to get away. Our day was cheerful until we walked past our little soccer pitch which made us stop dead in our tracks.

Guards were now on our pitch, digging up the lines, destroying the posts and ripping our handmade soccer ball to shreds.

"NO! STOP THAT!" yelled Ria. Her shout not only gained the attention of the other kids but also the guards as well. Dex and his team miraculously turned up by our side.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!" yelled Dex. The guards laughed and looked at us.

"Awh are the little kiddies not gonna be able to play their little game anymore? Too bad, I don't care" the guard holding our now destroyed soccer ball said, pulling out stuffing. One of the guards had his hand bandaged and noticed me in the crowd of kids.

"Hey that's the kid, guys. That's the kid that bit me" he said, pointing at me. Dex looked at me worryingly.

"Well why don't we punish her and all her little friends" another guard sniggered. Dex's teammate looked frightened and ran away, leaving me, Ria and Dex

"Get them!" yelled the guard I had bit as three guards had snucked up behind us and caught us before we even had a chance to flee. We were held down as the guard with the bandaged hand came up to us with a whip.

"Little girlie, this-" he said, striking my back with the whip, "is for making me look like a fool". I screamed in agony as the first strike carved into my flesh. Dex and Ria writhed in agony.

"This is for biting my hand" he said, striking me again.

"This is for running away" he said, whipping harder on my back. I could feel the cuts getting deeper.

"This is for being a cuffed" he said, doing double hits now.

"And all these are because I don't like you!" he laughed, hitting my back repeatedly. Blood splattered everywhere and bits of my skin were flying onto the dirt ground. After what seemed like an eternity of beating, he stopped and released his grip on me before moving onto Dex. I stumbled to my feet, feeling dizzy in the head.

"Run Dee! Get out of here! Don't worry about us! Just run!" yelled Ria from the ground, trying to shout over Dex's screams of pain. I heard a sickening slap as she was hit.

"Run Dee!" I heard Dex yell in between his beatings. I found strength I didn't even know existed and ran towards the only place I could think. The guards didn't chase me and I didn't care. I found the hole in the wall and squeezed under, my deep cuts being scrapped against the rock. I made it out and ran to the creek, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I jumped into the creek and felt the dried blood lift of my skin, soon to be replaced by fresh blood. I stumbled out and lent up against a tree. I was so exhausted I didn't hear the sound of someone approaching.

"Hey Dee!" cheered Natsu jogging towards me. Behind him, I could see there was a blond woman standing behind him.

"I've got someone I want you to- Dee, are you okay?" He asked, his voice changing from excitement to worry. My face was pale and feverish from the loss of blood. I felt my legs give out and I saw Natsu run to catch me. He caught me just before I hit the ground.

"Holy fuck…" I heard him mutter as he saw the cuts in my back.

"Dee, come on, stay with me! Lucy! What do we do?!" called out Natsu. I heard the woman named Lucy come over.

"Crap…. Okay we need to get her to the cave so I can treat her there" said the female voice. She sounded nice and calm.

"Dee? Can you hear me? We're gonna look after you, okay? I promise we won't hurt you" she said in the most calming voice I had ever heard. With the last of my energy, I croaked out a 'thankyou' before blacking out.


	6. Chapter 6 - Dee for Delfieor

**A/N: Hello lovelies. Thankyou to everyone who has reviewed the story so far, you guys make me want to write faster! Any feedback or praise is welcome and I really like reading what you guys think of ARTR.**

 **In this chapter, I couldn't help myself from adding the typical 'Natsu has a nightmare about Lucy' scene. Every story has one :')**

 **Enjoy and remember to rate and review please! And if you would like, ask me questions! xxxx**

 **(I am not worthy to own Fairy Tail and it does not belong to me. I only own my OC's and my places. All hail Hiro Mashima)**

* * *

 **NATSU POV**

I discovered I hated surveillance duty. It was so boring and uneventful. There wasn't too much of a clear view over the wall but it was enough to see a mass of boxed in houses and a little dirt field. At some point in the day, a group of kids were playing soccer on the little dirt pit. A girl scored a goal and I saw the other children running up to her and hold her high in the air, cheering. I smiled and looked on into the town.

There were guards that stood on the walls that surrounded the town, all heavily clad in lightweight – heavy duty armor. The kinda stuff I would have little difficulty melting. Inside the walls, the guards wore less armor and patrolled around certain areas. By the end of my shift, I had almost memorized each route and the shift duty of each guard in my line of sight.

"You look like you're intrigued" said Lucy from behind me, scarring me from my concentration. I growled lowly at her.

"You know not to do that" I snarled but not enough to scare her. She laughed and sat down next to me.

"Geez, sorry super spy. I didn't know you got really into your work" she joked. I piped up and puffed out my chest.

"I'll have you know that I put 110% into everything I do" I said proudly. Lucy giggled and pushed me slightly, making me drop my stance down. She then got into her serious mood.

"What have you found so far?" she asked in a business-like tone

"Guards on the wall are spaced a least 15 – 20 metres apart from each other and they rotate shifts every 2 hours. All of them are in lightweight – heavy duty armor. Easily melted" I said smirking at the last bit. Lucy nodded.

"Guards on the inside?" she questioned and I nodded.

"In my current line of sight, there are possibly 40, maybe 50 guards and patrol. All are spread out in different areas so it's difficult to estimate the space between them. I've memorized the patrol routes in this area and shift change looks to be around every 4 hours or so" I replied. Lucy nodded, taking this all in.

"What about villagers? Have you seen any?" she asked.

"Only children and aged people. It looks as though only the adults and teenagers work around here" I replied. My stomach growled and I gave a sheepish look to Lucy. She sighed.

"I saw little river running not too far from here. You can go fishing, BUT you have to stay out of sight" she instructed. I nodded diligently.

"Yes! I will stay silent like a ninja" I whispered, pulling up my scarf over my face, making hand symbols whilst pulling moves and making "Hwoahhh" sounds. Lucy literally face palmed and walked back into the cave to retrieve her keys and whip.

"Ninja's don't make sounds, dummy" she said and I scowled at her.

"Can't I have a dream" I whimpered and she giggled.

"Okay, so you go fishing and I'll go find some berries and nuts" she said as I turned to get my coat and she started to climb down the rope.

"Oh and Natsu-" she called to me, making me turn back around to look at her. She smirked at me.

"Be one with the wind, young grasshopper" she said, imitating a master's voice. My face was one of shock until I grinned at her. I quickly put on a straight face, putting a fist against my flat palm and bowed to her.

"Yes master" I replied before cracking back into a grin again. I caught her smile just before she dropped down the rope. My heart was beating like crazy in my chest whilst I stood there grinning like an idiot at what had just happened.

"Oh crap! I need to be fishing!" I cried out loud before rushing back in the cave to grab my coat and sandals.

I followed the little creek Lucy had told me about and found myself at a lake. It wasn't too large and it didn't look too deep. I casted out my line and sat on a nearby log, closing my eyes as I waited for the fish to start biting. However, I closed my eyes for too long and ended up falling asleep for an hour. I was woken by my rod being pulled into the water. I got up in a sleepy daze and grabbed the rod before I went out any further. I reeled it in to find my bait and hook were now gone. I sighed and walked over to where I had put my small backpack to fetch the spear head. I removed the line and reel of my rod and placed the spearhead on the top of the rod.

"Great this water looks freezing…" I said as I began to take off my coat and shoes. I then remembered I could heat up my body whenever I wanted and laughed awkwardly at myself before diving into the lake.

Beyond the dark blue exterior, the river was a sea of colourful fish and plants. Fish I had never seen before, swam right in front of me. Plants that I had only seen in the ocean grew here too. It was like a weird magical wonderland. I felt my lungs tug for air and I swam back up to surface, quickly taking a large breath, and then diving back down again. I looked for a big enough fish to feed me and Lucy when a huge salmon right in front of me. As quick as it came, it left and I was hot on its heels…, well fins or whatever.

That salmon was the most successful catch of my day so far. I also caught a few smaller fish but the salmon was my golden treasure. I emerged from the water, soaked and prunny, before heating myself up and shaking off and remaining water droplets. I put my coat and my shoes back on before grabbing my catch and walking back up to our hideout.

* * *

Lucy was not happy with me. I knew that the minute I got in the cave. She stood in the entrance, arms folder, one hip out and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Natsu Dragneel, where the hell were you?! I thought you were kidnapped!" she yelled at me. I used the universal hand action of "tone it down" it try and make her talk softer. She did no such thing.

"Do not tell me to tone it down! I have every right to be angry! I was waiting for 3 hours!" she screamed at me. I shrugged and walked past her, my catch hidden in my bag.

"Hey do you want dinner?" I asked, completely ignoring her rant. She looked at me as though I were insane.

"Have you not been listening to anything I have sa-" she started yelling, but was cut off when I produced my prized salmon. I grinned at her, taking in her shocked face. She was cute when she made that face.

"Ta-daa" I said, holding my prized fish. She looked at me, confused for a few minutes before laughing. I started laughing with her and she totally forgot about her rant at me. We sat down for dinner and had cooked salmon with a dessert of apples and blackberries, which Lucy had found in the forest. I sighed contently as we moved to our respected corners of the cave and laid down for some well-deserved sleep.

* * *

 _"Natsu!"_

 _"Lucy! Where are you?!" I cried out into the darkness. I could hear her calling me but my senses wouldn't tell me when I was or where she was. I heard her scream and I yelled out her name. In front of me, the darkness was suddenly lit up by torches, revealing a circular floor with torches on poles around the edges. In the middle of the floor sat Lucy, bloodied and tied in chains. She saw me and her eyes widened._

 _"Natsu! You need to run away!" she screamed._

 _"I'm not leaving you!" I yelled as I sprinted towards her. I ran into something hard and hit the floor. I stood back up again to discover a magic barrier had been placed between me and Lucy._

 _"Let me through!" I growled, pounding the wall with all my might. I tried to use my magic but my flames wouldn't come. It was as though my magic had disappeared from my body._

 _"Natsu, please! Save yourself!" she cried from the floor. I continued to smash at the magic barrier._

 _"No! I won't leave without you!" I yelled, pounding at the invisible wall. My hits were not making any effect. The wall seemed to be draining my energy with every hit I made. I stopped when I saw a hooded figure come out of the darkness. I growled and snarled at the figure as it walked closer to Lucy. She sat there, utterly frozen in terror._

 _"Get the fuck away from her!" I yelled as the figure walked to Lucy. It turned and noticed me._

 _"Oh, it looks like we have an audience" it said, in a male voice. The hooded figure removed his cloak to reveal his identity. I felt my eyes turn to slits as I saw Future-Rouge's face. I was too enraged to even realise that his face was foggy, as though my mind was trying to fill in something._

 _"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" I screamed, pounding the barrier with all my might. I felt it give away a little and I saw Future-Rouges face falter a little. I went to punch again but was knocked back by an invisible force. Future-Rouge stood with his hand out to me, smirking._

 _"No, no, no, we don't want any interruptions for tonight's show, now, do we?" he said in a smug tone before walking over to Lucy and lifting her chin up with his hand._

 _"Such a pretty thing. Such a shame you had to be a little cockroach under my foot" he said, running his thumb over her lips. She snapped her teeth at him, almost biting his finger. He scowled and punched her in the cheek, sending her flying across the floor. I yelled as she slid to a stop on the circular floor. Blood was dripping from her mouth._

 _"DON'T TOUCH HER!" I screamed, but my voice having little effect. Future-Rouge walked over to Lucy and sat her up. She was still conscious but her face told me she was in a lot of pain._

 _"You know, I can kill her in thousands of ways. It just depends on whether I feel like making her suffer" he said, smirking as my expression became dangerous._

 _"DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING TOUCH HER!" I snarled. Future-Rouge took no notice of me and produced two black smoke snakes with red eyes._

 _"How about we use these?" he said, smiling. Lucy closed her mouth shut and held her breath. The snakes could not enter at all. Future-Rogue saw this and kicked her hard in the gut, causing her to gasp and open her mouth in pain. The two snakes slithered into the Lucy's mouth and disappeared. When she realised what had happened, it was too late. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the floor, convulsing. Black liquid trickled from her mouth and eyes as she shook violently._

 _"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!" I yelled. Future-Rouge laughed._

 _"Those snakes are eating her insides. In a few seconds, her organ will shut down and her heart will stop" he said, smiling as tears fell down my face._

 _"LUCY!" I cried. Lucy's body twitched in response to her name and her eyes returned to their familiar warm brown. She crawled toward me, in obvious pain, before collapsing right in front of me. She could reach through the barrier and touch me. I grabbed her hand and tried to pull her through._

 _"Come on Luce. We can get away from here. Just pull through" I said, tears pouring from my eyes as I tried to pull her towards me. Future-Rouge saw that Lucy could get through the barrier and closed the barrier around her arm, effectively crushing the bones in her arm. She screamed out and her hand went limp in my hold. Future-Rouge laughed as he made his way over to us. I was panicking._

 _"Natsu, you need to run! You can't save me" she said, tears falling, washing away the black liquid that had stained her face._

 _"No! We have to go together, that's how it's always meant to be!" I sobbed, trying to make her lifeless hand move._

 _"Please, you need to escape. Just go" she begged, crying just as hard as I was. I refused to let her go. Future-Rouge was now standing over Lucy, evil glinting in his eyes._

 _"Awh what a touching moment. Any final words?" he asked, as he formed a shadow sword in his hand._

 _"Natsu please, live" she said before Future-Rouge plunged the sword straight through her back, spearing her heart. Her warm brown eyes went dull and Future-Rouge laughed. I looked up at him, anger rolling off me in waves. His face had changed to an unfamiliar one with white hair and purple eyes._

 _"YOU MONSTER!" I screamed, trying to stand up but was stopped by someone gripping my wrist. I looked down to see Lucy hand firmly around my wrist in a vice-like hold. Her turned mechanically up to me, twisting in ways I knew her neck wouldn't allow. Her skin was white and her eyes were black._

 _"Your next, dragon's son" she hissed in 4 different voices before opening her mouth wide. The smoke snakes she had inhaled erupted out from her mouth and headed straight towards me, darkening my vision._

* * *

"LUCY!" I yelled, into the darkness, sitting up and reaching out my hand to grab something. I was panting hard, my heart was pounding in my ears, and I could feel sweat everywhere.

"Natsu?" said a voice next to me, soft and gentle. I opened my eyes and saw Lucy sitting next to me, completely unscathed. To test that this wasn't my imagination, I touched her cheek, feeling its warmth, which effectively was telling me that this was reality. She looked at me confused as I removed my hand from her face.

"Natsu, are you okay? You were screaming and shouting in your sleep" she said, worriedly. I hunched over on my knees and ran a hair through my hair, sweat making the front parts stick to my forehead.

"Yeah, I uh…Just had a dream" I replied, not wanting to tell her I was having a nightmare or that my nightmare was about her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked, softly. I shook my head.

"I'm good. I need to take a walk. Get some fresh air into my system. Think about some stuff" I said bluntly, quickly pushing myself off my bed so that Lucy wouldn't see the tear trails on my face. I grabbed by coat and sandals and went to make my way to the entrance of the cave. I was stopped by a warm hand.

"Natsu, I know you are capable of doing things on your own, but I will always be here to help you. Just please don't shut me out" she said softly. I turned around and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm not shutting you out, I promise. I just have some stuff I need to figure out on my own" I said before pulling away and jumping down the rope without a second glance. When I reached the bottom, I looked up to see Lucy leaning over the edge to see me.

"I'll make a bird call when I want you to come back" she called before disappearing by over the edge.

I walked through the forest, taking in the quiet tranquillity of the night. My hearing could pick up crickets, owls, and the occasional frog. I walked close to the wall and I could hear screams. I blocked them out, not wanting to have a panic attack. I could hear the little creek up ahead. When I reached it, I bent down into the water and splashed the cool water on my face, washing away the sweat from my nightmare. My senses picked up someone else very close by and my guard went up. I sniffed at the air, trying to find the direction of where this mystery person was in.

"I know your hiding" I said out loud, into the enclosure around me. I heard a tiny sneeze and I immediately looked in the direction from which it had came. The sneeze had come from behind a boulder on the bank. I stared at the boulder where I figured someone was hiding. Whoever it was sneezed again, and again, and again. I lowered my stance and walked quietly towards the boulder, trying not the scare whoever it was behind there.

"Hey are you alright there?" I asked quietly as I heard another sneeze. A little girl, maybe 8 or 9, walked out from behind the boulder. She wore a small sack dress, made out of coarse material, thick metal cuffs on each wrist and on her ankles, and no shoes. She had long brown hair that came down to her hips, light olive skin and sea green eyes. The first thing I noticed about her was that she was soaking wet; her hair plastered across her face and her dress dripping. When I was in front of her, I lowered myself down to her level.

"What are you doing out here kid?" I asked

"The guards were after me so I ran away" she replied. I looked at her weirdly.

"What guards?" I asked, slightly confused as to what she was talking about. I knew there were guards in Delfieor but I highly doubted that this little girl came from in there. She looked at me alarmed and stumbled back slightly.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you, I promise" I said, trying not to scare the little girl away. She looked at me, torn for a moment on what to do, before allowing me to move closer to her. As I moved closer, I saw her cheek had begun to turn purple, as though someone had punched her, and a dried trail of blood ran down the corner of her mouth.

"What happened to you?" I asked. She realised that I had noticed the blood trail and the bruise.

"The guards tried to hurt me and I bit a guard and got away" she replied. I was about to ask why she was being chased by the guards, but I was interrupted by her sneezing. She shivered and I remember that normal people can't maintain their body temperature when cold.

"Shit, you're probably freezing there. Here take my jacket and I'll warm you up" I said, taking off my jacket and mentally slapping myself for swearing in front of a kid. My coat engulfed her little figure and eyes went wide at the feel of the material. I sat down in front of her and rubbed my hands together before flicking a fire in my hands. Panic and fear flashed across her eyes as she saw my magic and she jumped back and hid behind the boulder.

"What was that?! What are you?!" she cried out in terror. I put my hands up as though to calm her down. I then remember that the reason she was hiding behind the boulder was because of the flame I had produced from my hands. I quickly put them behind my back so I wouldn't scare her.

"It's okay, I promise I won't hurt you" I said as calmly as I possibly could. She slowly moved out from behind the boulder and sat a metre away from me, just for safety.

"What are you and what did you do with your hands?" she asked.

"I'm a wizard" I replied. She looked confused.

"You don't know what a wizard is?" I asked. She shook her head. I was really confused as to how she could not know what a wizard is whilst living in a world of magic. I ran my hand through my hair, trying to think of a way to explain what I was to her.

"Well, a wizard is someone who can use magic. It can be elemental magic like water, ice, fire and earth or it can be special magic like celestial, beast or armor magic" I explained slowly, making sure she could understand what I was trying to say.

"Do you have fire magic?" she asked.

"Yeah I do. Mines a special type though" I replied, grinning. I was proud about my dragon slayer magic. I was going explain to her what it was but she sneezed again. I mentally hit myself and remembered she was probably freezing.

"Oh crap, I need to get you warm. Don't freak out, okay? This is gonna get you warm" I said, rubbing my hands together and making a fire ignite from my hands. I used my power to direct the heat so it was swirling around her, warming her up. She looked comfortable now and I smiled inwardly. Her eyes drifted over to my right bicep, where my red Fairy Tail emblem was.

"Oh kid, I never actually got your name. I'm Natsu" I said, introducing myself. I got her to move around so I could dry her hair. Lucy always told me that wet hair is the best way to catch a cold so I wanted to dry this little girl's hair as much as possible.

"I'm Dee" she said.

"D? As in the letter D?" I asked, kinda confused. It sounded like a nick name or something. She looked at me as though I were an idiot.

"I don't know what you're talking about. My name is just Dee. Duh-eeee" she replied, trying to spell out her name.

"Wait, are you telling me you can't read?" I asked and she nodded. This girl was a complete mystery. She was chased by guards, didn't know what a wizard was, and couldn't read. It was as though she had been isolated from the world for all of her life. Something clicked.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"Line AR, Section 3, Delfieor" she replied, as though it was an automatic response. Surprised, I stopped using my magic.

"Wait your from Delfieor?"

"Yup"

"Like Delfieor with the brick walls surrounding it?" I asked, pointing up to the wall behind us. She nodded. I smiled at her.

"Well then Dee, looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the next few weeks" I said, giving her my trade mark grin.

"What do you mea-" she started before being cut off by Lucy's bird call. I panicked slightly when I remembered Lucy.

Oh crap, I left Lucy there…" I mumbled to myself before looking down at the little girl standing in front of me. It would be too dangerous to take her back with me if the guards found she was missing, but she also would be cold. I decided to let her keep my coat until the morning, just to keep her warm out here.

"Hey I gotta go back to my camp, but you can hang onto my jacket until the morning. Just leave it on a branch and I'll come get it. If you're lucky, we might see each other again!" I said before sprinting off into the bushes the way I had come.

"Natsu! Wait!" I heard her shout, but I was too far to respond. I kept running through the bushes. The adrenaline pumping through my veins mixed with the events of my walk, left me in a good mood as I found the rope to our cave and climbed up.

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

Natsu had been gone for almost an hour now. Given that he had had a nightmare, he would need some time to sort things out. I had awoken in the middle of the night, to Natsu's growling. At first, I thought there was someone nearby, but when I moved closer, I could hear him mumbling. He started thrashing around whilst shouting and screaming, mostly along the lines of ' _DON'T TOUCH HER_ ' and ' _LEAVE HER ALONE_ ', but he started crying after shouting his lungs out. I tried to wake him up but he didn't respond at all. What caught my attention most, was when he started crying my name.

 _'I must be in this dream'_ I though as Natsu blabbered nonsense through tears. He broke from his sobbing when he snarled in his sleep, his sharp canines growing and faint patterns growing on his cheeks. Before the patterns could become clearer, he sat straight up and called out my name. He didn't want to tell me about his 'dream', and as much as he tried to hide it, the dream was focused around me.

So I made my bird call, hoping he was close enough to hear it. I retreated back into the cave to await Natsu. He came climbing up the rope faster than I ever thought possible. He was grinning like a mad man but that wasn't the first thing I noticed. He was shirtless.

"Natsu! Where is your coat?!" I cried as he stood panting at the entrance. He gave me a wild grin

"Okay, so I was walking through the forest and I went to the creek, you know, the one you told me about, and…" Natsu said, rambling on. He was talking a million miles an hour so I could not understand a word of what he was saying.

"NATSU!" I yelled. He instantly shut up and looked intently at me.

"What?" he asked, dumbly.

"Where is your jacket?" I asked, kinda irritated.

"With a little girl"

"Why?" I asked. Natsu took a breath to start a rant but I put my hand up to stop him.

"Please, first put a shirt on and then tell me. Slowly" I instructed. He ran past me into the cave to grab a spare and I followed after him so he could tell me why his jacket was missing.

* * *

Natsu told me what happened to his jacket, about a little girl he met named 'Dee', her incident with the Delfiorian guards and effectively, what she was like after living in Delfieor. Since Natsu got back at around 1am, we sat around until early-morning thinking up ideas and plans to execute more in-depth surveillance. It must have been mid-morning when Natsu jumped up suddenly.

"Dee!" he shouted suddenly, as though he had just remembered something.

"Huh?" was all I managed to say before Natsu grabbed my hand, pulled me up to my feet, and drag me to the entrance of the cave.

"What the hell, Natsu?!" I screamed. Natsu turned around with that stupid grin of his plastered on his face.

"I told Dee to leave my jacket near the river. She should be there now!" he said before putting an arm under my legs and lifting me up so he was bridal-style carrying me.

"NATSU DRAGNE-" screamed as Natsu jumped off the edge of the cave, taking my words away as we plummeted to the bottom ground. I wrapped my arms around Natsu's neck and hung on for dear life. I expected the impact to kill us both, but all I felt was a slight shudder.

"Hey Lucy? Lucy? Luce, you can let go now" I heard Natsu say. My eyes where closed shut and I was practically strangling Natsu with my arms.

"We're dead. This isn't real. I'm already in hell" I mumbled over and over again. I felt Natsu shake underneath me.

"Haha Lucy, you're not dead, we're pretty alive" he chuckled. I forced my eyes open to see Natsu had used his in-human strength (thanks to his dragon slayer powers) to absorb the impact through his legs. On any regular person, their legs would have snapped on impact, but Natsu was still unscathed and holding me.

"You're the devil…"I hissed, closing my eyes again.

"Luce, come on, you need to let go of me" Natsu chuckled. To be honest, I actually didn't want to let go of him. As I clung on to him and buried by face in his chest, my senses were overwhelmed by his scent. He smelt like wood fire and smoke. A fitting combination for a fire dragon slayer. But when I was this close to him now, I could smell fresh herbs and spring time, something that would make this smell uniquely 'Natsu'. Half my mind was telling me to stay put and the other was telling me to move. The latter of the two won and I unlatched my arms from around Natsu's neck and jumped down. However, I was grabbed by the arm again and was rocketed through the forest and undergrowth.

"NATSUUUUU!" I screamed as he dragged us through the forest at breakneck speeds. He turned around for a split second to give me his trade mark grin before turning back and continuing to run. We finally slowed down when we reached the clearing to the creek. Natsu started sniffing around, trying to find something. He located his jacket on a nearby tree branch and begun to put it on. He stopped when he saw a figure.

"Hey Dee!" called Natsu to figure as he begun to jog over to them. I realised this was the little girl Natsu had met last night. She was just as he had described her. She looked around the age of 8 or 9, long brown hair in a loose plait, light olive skin, sea green eyes, metal cuffs on her wrists and ankles and a sack dress. On closer inspection, I noticed she was dripping wet and very faint looking. Something did not look right with that kid and Natsu saw it too.

"I've got someone I want you to- Dee, are you okay?" I heard him say as he saw Dee's appearance. She was leaning against the tree for support. She took a shaky step towards Natsu and her knees gave out beneath her. Natsu sprinted and luckily caught her just before she hit the ground. Something was not right.

"Dee, come on, stay with me! Lucy! What do we do?!" Natsu called out to me. I sprinted over to see what had got Natsu all panicky. The little girls back was riddled with whip cuts, probably from a beating. Most were slightly shallow cuts, but almost all of them were deep wounds, some even showing the whites of her spine through the steadily pouring blood. I looked at her face, which was paling by the second.

"Crap…. Okay we need to get her to the cave so I can treat her there. You're gonna have burn most of her wounds closed" I instructed Natsu, trying to be as calm as possible. He looked at me, slightly scared. I knew how much he hated burning wounds closed, especially on friends and children. His expression quickly turned to one of seriousness, meaning he understood that it needed to be done to save her. I moved around to Natsu's side to see the girl who was fading fast, stroking wet hair from her face.

"Dee? Can you hear me? We're gonna look after you, okay? I promise we won't hurt you" I said, trying to be as soothing as possible. It must have worked because she visibly relaxed before murmuring a fainting 'thankyou'. She went limp and Natsu looked distressed.

"Don't worry, she's still with us, but barely. We need to get her to the cave asap" I said. Natsu nodded whilst I grabbed his coat to cover Dee's back. He lifted her up as though she were nothing and took off towards our cave. We sprinted as fast as we could back, not wanting to waste precious seconds. We reached the cave in record time but were faced with a dilemma.

Getting her up to the cave.

"Fuck Lucy. What do we do?!" Natsu exclaimed, panicking. I suddenly wished Happy was here with us but remembered that I didn't have time to think about that. I thought about my celestial spirits and who could get her up there. Virgo could only dig holes down, Aries wool wasn't dense enough to carry a person and Scorpio couldn't make sand vortexes in this area. I finally realised who I could summon and pulled out a key.

"Open! Gate of the twins! Gemini!" I yelled, opening the gateway for Gemini to come through.

"Piri! Piri!" they cried as they materialised into existence, sensing the panic radiating off me.

"There's no time to lose, Gemini! I need you two to transform into Happy, asap!" I instructed. Gemini obeyed my wish and transformed into Happy.

"Aye sir!" cried Happy's voice as the twins turned into his doppelganger. Natsu looked visibly relieved at the sight of his best friend. He passed Dee gently onto Happy before letting him fly up into the cave. Natsu and I scrambled up the rope into the cave as fast as possible. Gemini had returned to their original form and were now worriedly chittering next to Dee who laid on her stomach, on the floor.

"Thank you so much, Gemini" I said, kneeling down in front of them and rubbing their heads in affection.

"Piri" they cried in unison before disappearing back into the celestial spirit world. I turned back to Natsu who looked at me in worry.

"Okay, get me the medical kit from my bag and my water bottle. I want you to empty the water from my bottle into the pan and boil it as quickly as you can" I instructed before turning over to Dee, who lay breathing heavily on the floor. I removed Natsu's jacket, which was soaked and stained with her blood, to assess what needed to be done. Natsu returned with the boiling pot and the first aid. I put the scissors, needle and tweezers into the boiling pot before turning to Natsu, who sat intently at Dee's side.

"Natsu, I know how much you hate doing this, but your gonna have to do it" I said to Natsu, putting a hand on his arm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Alright, I can do this" he said. I smiled quickly before returning by into my serious mood. I took an anaesthetic needle and injected Dee with it, dulling any pain she was about to feel. I moved back so Natsu could begin his work. He took a deep breath and lit a fire in his hands before pressing it to her bleeding back. The smell of burning flesh filled the cave. I struggled against the urge to throw up at the smell. Natsu looked like he was doing the same. It was long work but after an hour or so, Natsu finished up the burning. Dee's back was now a black mess of charcoal skin and red burns. He stumbled away, not wanting to look at what he had done and ran for the entrance of the cave to climb down the rope. I heard him jumped down and throw up somewhere in the bushes. I sighed and turned back to Dee and began dressing her burns, hoping we did enough to save her.

* * *

 **Mwahaha! What is gonna happen to Dee? Will she live? Or will I be a horrible author and kill her off? Find out next chapter! :)**


	7. Chapter 7 - Friends

**A/N: Who else is prepared for a boring chapter?! Because this one is probably the most boring and uneventful chapters of them all so far. I also kid when I said I was gonna kill Dee off. I kinda need her alive right now.**

 **Exams and assignments are killing me slowly and I have my schools musical production next week (which is when 6 of my essays are due. Why do teachers put all the assignments in one week?! Like I have shit to do (ﾉ °益°)ﾉ 彡 ┻━┻** **). So I've decided I'm just going to become goat for the rest of the month. I had an exam today for 2 and a half hours. I am fluent in the language of bullshit and I spent a good hour doodling anime characters on my working out paper. I started drawing a character design for Dee which I may post on my tumblr soon-ish.**

 **Right, now that I am done with my little rant, here is chapter 7 :)**

 **Review and favourites are welcomed. Reviews give me motivation to write faster than sonic the hedgehog.**

 **(Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any way, shape or form. All OC's and made up places are my creations. Hiro Mashima is fabulous** **㇩5)**

* * *

 **DEE POV**

My eyelids felt heavy, like as though I had been working one of my busy days. I could feel myself lying on my front, a position I would never sleep in. I tried to roll over but my body refused to move at my command. I could hear someone moving around close by, a few pots and pans clattering here and there. Mustering all my strength, I opened my eyes. I was lying on the floor of a cave. Correction, I was lying on a bed on the floor of a cave. A proper bed with a pillow and a blanket. I tried to move my fingers, feeling them twitch as I regained some sense of movement. A blonde girl, maybe 17 or 18, was busy cooking something in the pot which stood in the centre of the large cave over a pile of burning coals. She turned around and saw me blinking. She quickly rushed over and sat next to the bed.

"Oh my god… You're alive!" she exclaimed. I blinked at her slowly, sleep clogging up my eyelids.

"How do you feel?" she asked, gently. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. She must have realised how dry my mouth was and she quickly ran across the room to retrieve a water bottle. She brought a thin tube as well and stuck it into the water before putting it to my mouth.

"Just suck. The water will come through the straw" she explained. I did as she said and the water magically came up through the tube. At first, I sucked in too much and I choked, my body aching as I coughed. When I had had enough water, the girl put down the bottle and brushed some hair out of my face.

"So, how do you feel now?" she asked. I cleared my throat as best I could and spoke.

"Everything hurts" I croaked, my voice dry and rough.

"That's understandable. You've been out for 48 hours" she replied. I suddenly remembered what had happened. The guards at the dirt pitch, getting whipped, running away, Natsu catching me and this pretty girl. I panicked and tried to roll over so I could get up. The girl stopped me from trying to move.

"If I were you, I would not roll over. You're still healing so you'll be in a world of pain if you try to move" she said, laying me back down on my stomach.

"If you want to move that bad, I'll get Natsu to sit you up" she said. My ears perked up at the sound of Natsu's name.

"Natsu's here?" I croaked weakly. The girl nodded.

"He's just out fishing right now so he should be back soon" she replied. She got up and moved back to the bubbling pot.

"Um miss?" I called out to her.

"Hmm?" she hummed, turning around with a wooden spoon in her hand.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Lucy. Don't worry, I know about you. Natsu would not shut up about you when he got back after he met you" she said, chuckling lightly. I smiled and felt my eyelids drop again, putting me into a restful sleep.

* * *

The next time I opened my eyes, the cave was bathed in a pink glow, signalising the early morning. The heat from the coals was gone and the pot was no longer there. I could not hear Lucy anywhere in the cave. I was about to close my eyes again when I noticed a lump on the side of the cave. On closer inspection, the lump was a person with their knees up and burying their head behind their knees. I breathed in deeply and the person moved, pink hair popping up from behind their knees. I tried to act as though I was sleeping but my breath got caught and I coughed and spluttered. Natsu popped his head up from behind his knees and noticed I was awake. He quickly scurried over to my side and gave me the water bottle with the straw in. I took a quick sip, not choking like last time. Natsu removed the bottle when I was finished.

"Hey champ, how are you feeling?" he asked. Natsu looked horrible. There were slight bags under his eyes and his onyx eyes looked blood shot.

"I feel sore all over but it's better than the last time I woke up" I replied in my dry, husky voice. Natsu nodded.

"How does your back feel?" he asked.

"Not too bad. I can't feel anything" I replied. Natsu opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by the sound of Lucy coming into the cave.

"Hey Natsu! It's your shift- Dee! You're awake!" she cried and came and sat next to Natsu.

"How does you back feel?" she asked.

"It's good. I can't feel it" I replied. Lucy nodded before leaning over and pulling back the blanket that laid over me. I realised I wasn't wearing my scratchy sack dress anymore. Instead, I had a large grey shirt, probably Natsu's, which came up mid-thigh.

"Yeah, sorry about your dress. By the time I fixed you up, your dress was soaked in blood and severely ripped up the back" explained Lucy. I nodded as Lucy checked my shirt for any blood spots. She was about to lift up the back to check the bandaging on my back when she realised Natsu was sitting next to her.

"Hey Natsu, it's your turn to do shift" she said, shooing Natsu away.

"I wanna stay with Dee" pouted Natsu.

"I'm changing her dressings. If you really want to stay and watch me change her burns, then go ahead" she said. Natsu looked stunned and then guilty before slinking out towards the entrance of the cave to do his shift.

"Sheesh, that boy is like a puppy. You don't want to kick the puppy…" she mumbled whilst moving my shirt over my coarse underwear/shorts and over the thick bandaging. I couldn't see it but I knew there was a lot of wrapping on my back. She helped me up so I was sitting in an upright position.

"Lucy, when did I get burns on my back?" I asked as she pulled my shirt over my head and began to loosen my dressings. Heard Lucy sigh as the first roll of bandaging came off.

"When we brought you up here, most of your wounds were too big or deep to use normal stitches so Natsu had to burn them shut" she explained.

"He did that to save me?" I questioned.

"Yeah he did. But doing that really takes a toll on him. I mean, you saw the way he looks. But hopefully now that your awake, he'll start feeling better again" she said, pulling off another layer of bandaging. In total, Lucy pulled off 4 rolls of bandaging, leaving only the padding on my back.

"This may hurt a little" she said before slowly removing the soft padding. I didn't feel anything at all

"That's unbelievable…" she murmured when she pulled the pad off half way.

"What's wrong?!" I cried, freaking out a little. Lucy removed the rest of the padding and had a closer look at my back.

"Your burns…Their completely gone. Yes, there is a lot of scabbing, but all the puss and blistering is all gone" she said, touching my back to check if it wasn't some illusion.

"Does that mean I can move around without my bandages now?!" I cried happily. Lucy laughed and shook her head.

"I'll only put some light padding and one roll of bandaging on. Other than that, your all good to move around" Lucy explained, cleaning the scabs before putting the thin padding on and wrapping it tightly around my chest.

"Will I have a scar?" I asked.

"Possibly. Benefits of Natsu's magic is that he can adjust the flame so that it doesn't scar as much. By the looks of things, you'll just have a slightly lighter patch of skin" she replied. I nodded and pulled Natsu's shirt back over my head. Lucy offered me a hand to stand up, which I took. As soon as I got to my feet, I collapsed. I realised that I hadn't had anything to eat since the morning the guards beat me.

"Oh you must be hungry after all that sleeping. Here's some of the stew I was making the other day" she said, offering me a small bowl of delicious smelling soup. I scoffed down the first bowl and then went for seconds, and thirds, and fourths. I had never been allowed to have so much food before.

"Wow! I take it you liked my soup" exclaimed Lucy, looking down into her now empty pot. I nodded in satisfaction and rubbed my belly, which had never been full before.

"It was really good. I've never been able to have thirds before" I stated, sighing in content. Lucy took my bowl back near the pot and came back to sit next to me.

"So, could you tell me what life is like in Delfieor?" she asked.

"Well I've lived there all my life and I've never lived a different life so I don't know what you would call normal" I replied. Lucy nodded in agreeance.

"Do you, uh, have a family?" she asked, no sure how to approach the question. I nodded.

"Yeah, I live with my Dad. I have a big brother but he's not around a lot" I explained.

"What about your mother?" I looked down and played with my thumbs.

"I never met her. Dad doesn't talk a lot about her. He said once that she was taken away the day I was born" I replied quietly.

"Oh I am so sorry! I didn't know!" Lucy exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hands in shock.

"It's alright" I replied, smiling at her but she still looked embarrassed and guilty about asking about my mum.

"I want to know what life is like outside of Delfieor" I said. Lucy instantly perked up.

"Sure what do you want to know?" she said happily.

"What do you do for work?" I asked. Lucy smiled at me before replying.

"Well, if you don't know, I'm a celestial mage"

"Wait, you can use magic too?!" I exclaimed. Lucy nodded.

"Yup. See these keys? These are celestial spirits. The gold ones are the zodiac keys. They're the constellations in the sky" she said, pulling out a little leather pouch with 10 little gold keys, each marked with a different symbol.

"Wow these are so cool!" I cried, looking at Lucy's keys.

"Now getting back to your question. Because I am a wizard, I can apply to be in a guild" she explained. I looked at her, confused.

"What's a 'guild'?" I asked, curious about her work.

"A guild is an organisation or a group where wizards like me and Natsu can join and go on jobs and get paid money. Guilds are like big families" Lucy said, smiling whilst explaining.

"How many are there?"

"Hundreds, possibly thousands" she said. I felt my jaw drop as I thought of the idea of a place where people could be happy and not be treated like dirt. A place I never thought existed.

"How do you tell the difference? I mean, there are so many of you"

"Each guild has a name and a special mark or symbol" she explained.

"What's your guild called?" I asked.

"Mine is called ' _Fairy Tail_ '. We're the number one guild in all of Fiore. And this-" she said, holding her right hand with her palm down, "-is my ' _Fairy Tail_ ' mark" she finished, letting me see the back of her hand. In pink ink, was a tattoo on the back of her hand shaped like some sort of fairy.

"Does Natsu have one?" Lucy nodded at me in response

"Yeah, his is red and it's on his shoulder" she replied. I remembered seeing it when Natsu and I first met and he was trying to dry me off.

"Guilds sound so cool!" I cried in excitement. Lucy laughed lightly.

"They definitely are something. You meet so many people and make so many friends" Lucy said, smiling as she obviously began thinking about something.

"Do you have friends in the guild?" I asked. Lucy nodded and told me all about her friends in Fairy Tail. There was girl named Erza who could make swords appear out of thin air and change her clothes. Lucy said she is the strongest girl in the guild and is really scary, especially when you ruin her cake. There was a boy named Gray who could make anything out of ice. Lucy said he was almost like a big brother to her and that he and Natsu were best friends but they fought all the time and acted like rivals. Apparently Gray also has a stripping habit and takes off his clothes all the time. There was a girl, a little bit older than me, named Wendy. Lucy said she had something called "slayer magic" and she could control the air around her. She also told me about Natsu's best friend, Happy, who was a blue, flying and talking cat. Natsu apparently raised him when he hatched and they are super close friends, almost family.

"Are you and Natsu good friends?" I asked. Lucy nodded.

"Yeah, we're really good friends. Natsu's the reason I'm in Fairy Tail" she explained, smiling at the memory of first meeting Natsu.

"Do you like him?" I asked and Lucy sat up straight and went bright red.

"No no no no! I don't like him! I mean I do like him, but not in that way!" she spluttered, blushing hard. I smirked.

"Oh really?" I smugly replied.

"Well, why don't we change the subject? Why don't you tell me what you do for work?" she hurriedly said, trying to quickly change topic.

"I work as a water fetcher. My job is to go to the creek, collect water, and carry it back to whoever needs it" I replied.

"Do you work alone?"

"No, I work with my best friend Ria" I said and then remembered about her. I quickly shot up straight.

"Wait! How long have I been here for?!" I cried out, panicking.

"You were out 48 hours the last time you woke and you slept another 15 so I reckon, 3 days now?" she said, counting out on her fingers.

"Dad's gonna be worrying me! And Ria too! They'll think I'm dead!" I exclaimed. Lucy was trying to calm me down.

"We'll sort it out, don't worry! Just take it easy. The last thing you want to be doing is running around" she said, trying to stop me from getting up. I pushed her away and jumped up to my feet, ignoring the pain in my back.

"Dee!" she shouted as I sprinted to the narrow passage that led to the exit. Pain was running through my body but I tried to ignore it. I could see the sky and I sprinted towards it. The next thing I knew, I was dangling on the edge of a cliff that overlooked Delfieor. I could feel someone holding my arm and I looked around to see Natsu standing at the edge with a firm grasp in my wrist.

"Dee! What the hell are you doing?!" he said, effortlessly pulling me back up to stand on solid rock. I reached and clung onto his vest and hugged myself to his body. I heard Lucy coming running towards the exit and she saw me clinging to Natsu.

"Dee!" she exclaimed as I continued to bury my face into Natsu's body.

"What's going on Luce? Why was she running? Why did she try to jump off the edge?" Natsu asked Lucy as he put a hand on my loose hair, trying to soothe me.

"She remembered that she left her Dad and her friends back in Delfieor and because she's been away for three days, they'll think she's dead" Lucy explained.

"Why did she almost go flying off the edge though?" he asked.

"I may have not told her we were on a cliff…" she said sheepishly.

"Well, if she wants to go down, I'll go with her" Natsu said. I peeked out from behind my fisted hands to look at Lucy as she nodded.

"That's fine with me, but I want her walking as little as possible" she instructed. Natsu nodded and then removed himself from my grasp and crouched down to my level.

"Dee, where do you wanna go?" he asked. I dropped and released my fisted hands from my face and looked at him.

"The creek" I said and Natsu nodded before turning around so his back was facing me.

"Jump on my back and I'll piggy back you there" he instructed. I obeyed and jumped onto his back, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He stood up and looked at Lucy.

"We'll be back in maybe an hour or 2. At the end of that time, do the bird call" he said before jumping down from the edge and grabbing onto a rope which dangled from the edge. Quickly and swiftly, he climbed down the rope and we hit the floor. Natsu walked through the forest, occasionally stopping the push me further up onto his back. I noticed that he wasn't wearing his jacket with one sleeve. Instead, he had an open, sleeveless vest which openly showed the muscles on his stomach. Whilst he carried me, I could see his red Fairy Tail emblem on his shoulder.

"Hey Dee, do you wanna walk to the creek now or do you want me to carry you? It's not that far now" he asked, continuing on into the forest. I shook my head.

"I'll stay on your back for now. When we get there, I'll walk" I said and I saw Natsu nod. We first heard the bubbling water and then we soon came up to the bank of the creek that I knew all too well. Natsu helped me down off his back before quickly running into bushes and grabbing a large stick so that I could support myself when I walked. Natsu quickly ran back into the bushes to go check something that he saw. With a stick in one hand, I walked slowly, trying not to cause myself pain, unlike what I did back up in the cave. Further up the bank, stood a girl with wild blonde hair, putting a large jug into the water.

"Ria!" I called out. Ria looked up and saw me, colour draining from her face.

"DEE!" she cried, running towards me with tears streaming down her face. She flung herself at me and I tried to remain standing up right.

"Dee! I thought you were dead!" she wailed as she hugged me. I struggled to stand as Ria dragged me down to the ground with her. We now sat in a heap with Ria sobbing over me. Natsu walked over and Ria saw him. She screamed.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" she screeched, trying to shield me from Natsu.

"Ria! Ria! It's okay! He's my friend!" I said, trying to calm her down. Ria calmed down but refused to be anywhere near Natsu.

"Who is this and how do you know him?" she asked me.

"This is Natsu. He saved me when the guards did the raids and he saved me when I ran away after I was beaten" I explained. Natsu smiled and nodded.

"And I take it your Ria? It's nice to meet you" he said, crouching down and holding out his hand so she could shake it. Reluctantly, she took it and Natsu gave her his trade mark grin. She then turned her attention back to me.

"How are you?" she asked, trying to see if I had any injuries on my. She then noticed my clothing

"And what on earth are you wearing?! This stuff is like silk for royalty!" she exclaimed, running her hand over the shirt.

"Well my back has almost healed so I should be able to come back soon. And to answer your other question, this is Natsu's shirt. My dress was shredded after the beatings" I explained. Ria nodded slowly.

"Oh yes! I remember your back! That was so horrible. Dex and I thought you weren't going to survive because of how deep the cuts were" she said, covering her mouth with her hands in the memory.

"So did Luce and I, but Dee's tough as nails" chimed in Natsu. Ria tilted her head to the side.

"Luce?" she questioned.

"That's Natsu's partner, Lucy. She's back up in their hideout" I explained and Ria understandingly nodded. I looked at Ria and noticed the dirty bandages Gran-gran Cass uses to bandage those who have been beaten underneath her dress and around her left wrist and left ankle.

"What happened to you and Dex when I ran away?" I asked. Ria looked down at her hands.

"Dex and I were both beaten pretty bad. My back was lashed but not as bad as yours. Same with Dex. I had my wrist and ankle whipped as well" she said, pointing to the bandages on her body.

"If your in the same shape as Dee, why aren't you taking time off?" Natsu asked.

"Nobody gets time off. If you get injured, you work like that" I explained to Natsu.

"That reminds me, when are you gonna come back in? If you stay out for too long the guards are gonna get suspicious about you" Ria said.

"Well from what Lucy said, I might come back tomorrow. I'll need you to bring me another dress because I can't wear this" I said, tugging lightly at the shirt I had on. Ria nodded and promised to bring me one tomorrow. Natsu got up and sat on the edge of the river, watching the water flow down the stream, leaving Ria and I alone to talk. Ria caught me up on all the latest gossip and I told her about Natsu and Lucy (minus their magic and Fairy Tail). We were laughing at a joke when I heard a familiar bird call. Natsu came over to tell me it was time to go. Ria said farewell to me before walking back into Delfieor. I jumped on Natsu's back and we walked through the forest which was lit in the pinkie-orange shades of the sunset.

"Hey Dee, why didn't you tell your friend the truth about Lucy and I? You know, the fact that we're magic users?" Natsu asked. I yawned sleepily before replying.

"I didn't want to freak her out. Not a lot of people know about wizards and those who do are terrified of them. Also, she's horrible at keeping secrets" I replied.

"What do you mean, ' _afraid of wizards_ '?" he asked.

"The elders tell some of us stories about the wizards of the outside world. They tell us scary stories about them and that they are dangerous" I said.

"It's probably best you don't tell her then" Natsu said, chuckling. The smell of the trees and the pink sunset was making my eyelids feel heavy. By the time Natsu arrived at the cave, I was already fast asleep on Natsu's back.

* * *

 **NATSU POV**

Poor kiddo was all tuckered out when we arrived back at the cave. Then again, her body was trying to heal itself too. What surprised me was when Lucy told me about Dee's super-fast healing wounds. Things like that don't happen to normal people. When we arrived at the cave, I struggled to keep Dee from slipping off me as we climbed. My solution was tying my scarf around our waists so she wouldn't fall. As soon as we got up there, Lucy took Dee off my back and carried her over to the bed she was sleeping on. I followed her in and watched as she tucked her into bed, even placing a small kiss on her forehead.

"So what did you guys talk about this morning?" I asked as Lucy came over to pass me a bowl of some soup she made.

"Oh she wanted to know about our life in Magnolia. I told her about Fairy Tail and the gang back there" she said, sipping her soup and smiling at the thought of our friends.

"You find out anything about her?" I asked. She nodded.

"She lives with her Dad, but I guess you already know that. She also has an older brother but she doesn't see him a lot" she replied.

"And her mother?" Lucy adverted from my gaze.

"She said she never met her. She was taken away the day she was born" Lucy said, solemnly. Instinctively, I grabbed my scarf. Lucy and I both looked over at Dee as she slept.

"Her friend is gonna give her another dress so she can go home tomorrow" I said quietly.

"I don't want her to go but she needs to get back into Delfieor otherwise things start looking fishy" Lucy mumbled. I nodded in agreement. We finished what was left of the soup and cleaned up. We then both jumped into our beds and settled down for the night. After 10 minutes or so, I could hear Lucy's rhythmatic breathing, signalling she was asleep. I couldn't close my eyes in fear that another nightmare would plague my dreams. They weren't always the same but the common element was Lucy getting hurt or dying.

Whilst lying in my bed, wide awake, I thought of different plans we could use to infiltrate Delfieor. My first plan was to take out some guards and pretend to be them. Down side is that it's a pretty obvious plan. My second plan was to sneak into the town and stay undercover. Problem with that was that we would look nothing like the others and we would be spotted out. My third option was to pretend to be captured so we could get in. Then again, things could go pear shaped and we could just become prisoners on death row, one of my nightmares come true. I eventually figured to combine all three of my plans. The combined plan had few flaws compared to the previous ones I had thought up and was more believable. I smiled before closing my eyes, another nightmare awaiting to ruin my sleep.

I awoke to a tickling sensation under my nose. I scrunched my eyes shut and tried to bat whatever it was away. It continued on and on, irritating me like fly. I laid still until I could feel whatever it was just lying there under my nose. With lighting reflexes, I snapped at the object in front of me, trapping it in my mouth. It tickled the back of my mouth and tongue. Reflexively, I gagged and spat whatever it was out, coughing. I opened my eyes to see a soggy feather laying on the floor and Dee sitting not too far away from me. I glared at her before turning around and pulling the blanket over me. I heard her giggle before she got up and jumped on my bed, with me in it.

"Come on Natsu! Wake up! Wake up!" she cried, jumping up and down on me. I covered my head with the blanket.

"Jus' a few more minutes'" I grumbled, trying to shrink away.

"Natsu, your gonna miss breakfast" chimed an angelic voice. I shot straight up and saw Lucy sitting near the fire pit with a bowl of berries. Dee stopped jumping and sat down on my lap.

"You won't wake up to me jumping on you, but you wake up to food?" huffed Dee. I sheepishly grinned.

"That's Natsu for ya!" laughed Lucy. Dee hopped off me and I got up to grab a bowl from Lucy. We all ate happily, chatting and making jokes. Lucy looked at me anxiously from time to time, like there was something on my face.

"I must have had another nightmare last night…" I thought to myself as I finished up my berry salad. I was out on shift duty first again as Lucy changed Dee's bandages. Her back was basically healed now and all she needed was a single bandage to stop the scabs from opening up. When the two had finished, Lucy brought Dee out to the cliff, her hair in the long plait it had been in when I first met her.

"Ready to go kiddo?" I asked and Dee nodded before turning around to Lucy.

"Thankyou for patching me up" she said, hugging Lucy. Lucy had to bend down to return the favour.

"It was no problem, seriously" she said, chuckling lightly. Dee pulled back to say something but was stopped when Lucy put a finger over her mouth.

"Don't say goodbye yet. Goodbye means you're going for good and I'm going to be seeing you a lot in the future" Lucy explained, smiling. Dee nodded and then looked up to me.

"Okay, I'm ready to go" she announced. I nodded and crouched down so she could jump on my back. I piggy-backed her all the way down the rope and let her off my back at the bottom. She turned around and waved to Lucy who waved back from the cliff. I did a one armed wave-slash-salute at her, to which she smiled. Dee led me through the forest towards the creek again. We waited a few minutes until Ria showed up with her large vase.

"I got you a new dress. There's a sash in there too if it's too big" Ria said, pulling out an identical sack dress to the one Dee had on before. I had to turn around as Dee pulled over my shirt and changed into her new dress. This one fitted differently to the other one. The sleeves where ripped and the neck lined veered in one direction. Around her waist, the dress was gather by a dirty white strip of cotton which held her dress up. Down her right side, the dress was attached at the bottom of the sleeve by one stitch and was open down to the bottom, where both ends were tied in a knot. She passed me back my shirt.

"Thank you Natsu, for everything" she said, hugging me. I reciprocated the action.

"Pfft, it was nothing" I said, acting tough. Dee laughed lightly.

"I guess I'll see you around?" she said, hope in her voice. I nodded.

"Yes! Of course! In fact, I wanted to meet you here tomorrow. I need to talk to you about some stuff" I said, thinking about my plan. Dee nodded and we agreed on a time for tomorrow. Dee and Ria waved before walking towards the walls of Delfieor. I turned and ran towards our cave, eager to talk to Lucy. I clambered up the rope and dashed inside the cave to find Lucy sitting on her bed, checking her Fleuve d'étoiles.

"Your back early" she said, watching me as I stood against the wall, leaning over and trying to catching my breath.

"What wrong? Why are you sounding like you ran a marathon?" she asked worriedly watching me pant. I looked at her and gave her the look of a mad man.

"Oh no…" she mumbled, dropping her whip with a look mixed with shock, fear and worry plastered across her face.

"I have a plan" I announced, mischief gleaming in my eyes.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Plan

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the semi-longish wait. I've wanted to write this chapter so fast but I've had like 50 assignments and I've also been playing in my school musical (somehow I've played over 80 hours of music in the past two weeks), which finished on the weekend. Instead of doing my assignments, I may have binged watched Attack on Titan (WHICH IS F**KING AWESOME)  
**

 **Also, currently suffereing from post-musical depression tbh.**

 **But hey, chapters up, lets party! Go wild, go crazy, but not too crazy.  
**

 **Also, update: I have re-written the story overview and I've upgraded the story to M, purely because I was seriously limited with the amount of stuff I could write in the T section.**

 **I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. Places and OC's are my creations.**

 **Remember to rate and review! I love reading reviews and if you guys want to suggest ideas for the story, I would be happy to consider them.**

 **Enjoy! xxx**

* * *

 **NO POV**

In the bustling town of Rythor, word had reached the Mayor (a.k.a organiser of the quest) about Natsu and Lucy accepting the job. The surrounding towns had gotten word too and chipped in money for the reward.

In a quiet corner of the busy marketplace, Jefforey swept the outside of his shop, keeping himself occupied when customers weren't around. Up ahead, a commotion was beginning. People began jumping away from the road as two horses, saddles and all, came galloping through the marketplace. Jefforey instantly recognised the horses and stepped out into the path way, spreading his arms out.

"Aiko! Felix!" he cried as they came close. They slid to a stop, rearing and whinnying.

"Shhh its okay" he whispered to the horses in an effort to calm them down, stroking their heads. They both quietened down and Jefforey noticed how the horses were fully saddled with food packs and everything.

"Oh no…" he mumbled, looking worriedly at the horses that nuzzled his hands.

* * *

Elsewhere in Magnolia, at the currently empty Fairy Tail Guild hall, Master Makarov was frantically running around, looking for something or someone.

"MIRA!" Makarov yells, using his magic to amplify his voice. A few clattering pots and pans can be heard banging as Mira emerges from the kitchen. Her state has deteriorated over the past few days. She had begun to have sleeping problems and whenever she had a break from her shift, she would go into the back store room to sob.

"You called Master?" she asked with a fake plastered smile on her pale face. Master noticed it but did not take any action.

"Yes, have you seen Erza or Laxus around anywhere?" he asked, looking back and forth. Mira shook her head apologetically.

"No, sorry. I believe Erza is on a new job and Laxus is currently with the Thunder Tribe in the west of Fiore completing a training camp" she replied. Makarov paled and swore under his breath.

"What's wrong Master?" she asked sweetly.

"It's Lucy and Natsu" he replied solemnly. Mira's face faltered and she choked, letting out a cough to cover it up.

"Oh no… What's happened?" she asked worriedly, covering her mouth with her hands in fear.

"It's been 9 days now and I haven't heard anything. I only suspect they have realised how difficult the job is and accepted it rather than coming back" he sighed.

"And to make matters worse, the reward has been raised yet again" he muttered just loud enough for Mira to hear.

"How much?" she questioned. Makarov pulled out a folded slip of paper from his jacket and handed it to Mira.

"The surrounding towns found out about the quest and have each chipped in money for the reward. It's been raised to 300 million jewel" he explained. Mira stood there in utter shock from the quest reward.

"Do they know?" she questioned, passing the paper back to Makarov.

"I imagine not. They probably didn't even know it was raised to begin with" he replied, rubbing his forehead.

"What are you going to do? Didn't you say we should wait a fortnight to see what would happen?" Mira asked, worried for her friends.

"Yes that was the case but the increased reward was something I did not take into consideration. I am going to need to make a small rescue team to go in and get them. A team with our strongest members" he explained. Mira thought of Fairy Tail's strongest members that would make that team; Gildarts, Erza, Laxus, Grey, Gajeel and Wendy. She wasn't too sure about Laxus wanting to be a part of the team so she filled in his position with Juvia.

"I want you to alert me when Erza, Gildarts or Laxus returns and tell them not to take another job" he instructed Mira. She nodded and Makarov began to walk back to his office. He turned slightly to watch Mira retreat back into the kitchen. She would probably go to the storeroom to cry again. His heart ached knowing that one of his children was crying and another two were in danger. He sighed in frustration and continued to walk up to his office, getting ready to fill in the legal forms for a rescue mission.

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

"No way"

"Yes way"

"There is no way that will work"

"It will definitely work"

"We'll get caught"

"We'll be fine"

"Urgh" I grumbled as I slapped my forehead. Sitting across from me was an incredibly eager Natsu, literally bouncing with excitement. Einstein here had a 'plan'.

"Okay, lemme get this straight. You want Dee to bring us rags to change into, we go into Delfieor, do some surveillance work, figure out whos behind this whole thing, come back here, get back to normal again and then storm the place? You're insane" I groaned

"I'm a genius" he beamed happily.

"So are you in?" he asked, pleading me with that sad face he pulls on me. I gave in.

"Urgh this is wrong on so many levels and we are totally gonna get caught. But what other options do we have" I sighed.

"Does that mean you're in?" he questioned. I nodded slowly.

"Yeah I am. But that doesn't mean I like it!" I explained. Natsu jumped up and fist pumped the air.

"I'll tell Dee straight away tomorrow" he said and then went towards the entrance to start his shift. I was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set behind the mountain that shadowed over Delfieor. I walked out and sat on the edge next to Natsu.

"What's up?" he asked, still looking out into the town.

"I know I shouldn't be saying this, but what do we do in the worst case scenario? What happens if we get caught?" I questioned. Natsu's gaze hardened for a second before relaxing.

"We'll think something up if that happens" he replied.

" _If?_ Natsu, I don't want to go in there without an escape plan" I explained. Natsu continued to look toward the horizon.

"How bout this? We use our magic to knock out some guards. I create a distraction and you get out of there" he said.

"No! I don't like that plan. I won't leave you" I exclaimed, shocked that Natsu would be so selfish.

"But you would need to get out of there" Natsu said in a low tone. He was beginning to get frustrated with this conversation

"There is no way I am leaving you there! You saw what happened to Dee's back! I don't want to see you like that!" I cried out. Natsu's face was becoming a frown.

"And I don't to see you like that either" he snapped.

"Natsu, I'll be fine. I'm strong enough to handle anything" I explained softly to him, trying to calm him down. He whipped his head around to look at me with anger and fear in his eyes, grabbing my shoulders roughly.

"But I'm not strong enough! I'm not strong enough to see you like that!" he screamed at me, shaking me back and forth. All I could do was look at him in utter shock.

"I saw you die once before, Lucy! I never want to see that or feel that pain ever again! I can't sleep because my nightmares are always about you dying in front of me! I don't want to lose you!" he yelled. His voice echoed and birds nearby flew out from their trees. Natsu looked on the brink of tears when he released me. He turned away from me and held his head in his hands.

"Natsu-"

"Don't touch me" he whispered as I tried to reach out to comfort him. I retreated my hand before getting up.

"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back soon" I said quietly before climbing down the rope to the ground. I looked up and saw Natsu had moved away from the edge, probably not to look at me. I began to walk towards the path, away from the creek.

A few days ago I had found a clearing inside a cave, perfect for practising my magic. I reached the entrance and walked through the waterfall of soft vines into a narrow tunnel. The roof and walls were covered in fluorescent funguses that glowed in the dark. At the end of the cave was a clearing. Sun shone down from a crack in the ceiling and green grass all around. It looked like a fairies garden.

I sat down on top of the highest hill and summoned Capricorn.

"Open! Gate of the Goat! Capricorn!" I yelled, holding out his key. A bell rung, signalling the successful summon.

"How may I be of service today, my lady?" Capricorn asked politely, bowing at her.

"Can we run my training regime again?" I asked politely. Capricorn nodded

"As you wish, my lady. We'll start off with your magic energy exercise" he instructed. I nodded and took a seat on the green hill, crossing my legs, and began my training.

* * *

 **DEE POV**

I was welcomed home with tears and warm embraces. My whole section had been so worried about me and doubted whether I would survive, due to the information Ria and Dex had supplied them with. Dad cried as soon as he saw me and refused to let me go. I found Dex after everyone had welcomed me back. He was currently staying at Gran-gran Cass's for treatment to his wounds on his back. His weren't as significantly bad as mine but they were still pretty bad, and they were taking longer than mine to heal.

"So how long does Gran-gran Cass say you'll be here for?" I asked.

"About another 3 or so weeks" he grumbled, trying to sit up without putting pressure on his back.

"That really does suck" I mumbled.

"What about you? How is your back? I'm surprised you're up and about with the amount of cuts you had on your back" he said. I looked at him sheepishly.

"I kinda had some help with that" I said. He looked at me funnily.

"What do you mean?"

"Well I went to the creek and I ran into a boy who saved me when the raids happened the night before" I explained. Dex looked at me shocked.

"Wait, your telling me you met an outsider?!" he whisper-yelled, checking to see if anyone was around. I nodded eagerly.

"He also had his partner with him. I saw them and I collapsed right in front of them. Luckily the boy caught me and they took me back to their hideout where they treated my wounds" I said. Dex looked at me like I was mad.

"How bad can this be?! You met an outsider, you let them give you help and then you let them take you to their base?! How much worse could this get?!" he cried out. I laughed and continued talking.

"When I woke up again, they had sealed my wounds shut and they bandaged me up" I explained.

"How did they seal your cuts? I had to have mine sewn back together"

"They burned them shut, well the boy did"

"With like a rod or coal?"

"No, with his hand" Dex looked at me like I had grown three heads.

"With his hands?….Wait, you mean to tell me he can use mag- _mmph_!" Dex shouted but I stopped him by covering his mouth.

"Yes, and so can his partner. But seriously, keep your voice down. I don't want the guards to find out that there are outsiders nearby" I said in a hushed whisper. Dex nodded than looked at me with curiosity.

"Are they anything like what the elders have warned us about?" he asked.

"There just normal people, like you and me. Nothing scary. The only difference is that Natsu and Lucy have magic" I said quietly.

"Natsu and Lucy? If that their names?" he asked. I nodded happily.

"How old are they?"

"Um, I never actually asked. Lucy looks around the same age as your sister, so 17? And Natsu looks a little bit older, maybe 18 or 19?" I replied as Dex nodded slightly. He then pointed to my back.

"So, do you have any scars from the burns?" he asked. I turned around and lifted my dress up over my shorts and further up my back. There was still scabs over the deeper cuts but the rest where just weird dents in my back. The skin that had been burned was a paler tone and slightly shimmery in certain lights.

"That is so cool! I looks completely normal but it has a kind of sparkle to it" he said, lightly running his fingers over the scar. I felt my cheeks heat up and he moved has hand back to his bed whilst I dropped dress back down. I sat on his bed talking to him until Gran-gran Cass kicked me out because curfew was coming up soon. I sprinted home to find dad cooking a stew of some sort.

He hugged me and would not let go of me for what seemed like eternity. When he did, he dished us out a bowl of stew each. It wasn't as good as Lucy's cooking and I only got one bowl instead of the four I got when I was with Lucy and Natsu. I thanked my father for the meal and went up to my bed of straw in the attic

It felt weird, sleeping in my straw bed. It was uncomfortable compared to the soft silky bed I had been laying in for the past few days. Same with my clothing. However, the dress Ria picked up for me was a little bit softer than my old dress. I stared up into the night sky and remembered when Lucy told me about her magic. The stars above me made pictures and we specific names. I tried to imagine the lines in between the stars and the pictures they would form but I was eventually overcome by sleep.

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

I hadn't realised how long I had been training for. When I emerged from the cave, it was midnight. I panicked and remembered how I had left Natsu up in the cave after his outburst. I ran as fast as I could through the forest, the branches and bushes scrapped at my legs and arms, making shallow, paper thin cuts. I was whacked in the face by a tree branch halfway there. I felt pins and needles in my cheek. I knew there would be a little blood and possibly a bruise. I reached the cave and climbed up the rope, slipping down every so often. Once I reached the top, I quietly creeped into the main cave area.

Lying on one of the beds was Natsu. He was tossing and turning violently, trying to grabbing and swipe something that wasn't there. He was mumbling gibberish and was breaking out in a cold sweat.

 _'_ _One of his nightmares…'_ I thought to myself as I went over to try and calm him down. Sitting next to him, I realised he was crying. I gently put my hand onto of his forehead, pushing the hair that had stuck there back gently. He whimpered softly as I did that. I retreated my hand from his shaking body, only to realise he was now sobbing. I shook him gently, trying to coax him awake.

"Natsu, come on. It's all in your head" I said gently to him. His face softened before returning to one of agony.

"I'm right here, Natsu. Wake up" I whispered to him. This time his eyelids flicked open and he sat upright. Looking at me, were a pair of terrified eyes. I smiled at him gently, pushing the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes back. His eyes watered and he grabbed me before pulling me into a bone crushing hug, sobbing into my shoulder.

"Shh, Natsu. It's okay. I'm here" I murmured, running my fingers through his hair. After a few minutes, his sobs died down so that all was left were a few sniffles. I pulled him back at arm's length and looked at him. Natsu never looked like this. Not in front of Happy, or Erza, or Wendy, or Gajeel, and definitely not Gray. His eyes were red rimmed from crying, his skin pale and blotchy and his nose red from sniffing. I smiled and wiped away a stray tear running down his cheek with my thumb.

"Look, it's me. I'm fine" I smiled at him. I felt Natsu grab my hand and rub his thumb of my knuckles, testing if I truly was real. He looked away from me, guilty.

"I'm sorry…" he sniffed, trying to calm himself down.

"What are you sorry about?" I questioned, trying to look at his face.

"About shouting at you and being like this in front of you" he replied, refusing to look at me.

"Pfft, that fight was silly, I don't why you are worrying about it" I said, making him finally look at me.

"And don't apologize about crying. It's not making you look weak or anything. The strongest people cry every now and again" I replied and Natsu smiled lightly before returning to a frown.

"But I'm so weak when I'm like this" he grumbled. I put my hands on my hips and looked at him.

"It looks like someone has a case of the poor me's" I announced, pouting a little. Natsu scowled and then laughed softly and I returned the smile.

"You feeling a little better now?" I asked. Natsu nodded.

"Do you want anything else before I go to bed?" I asked, preparing to get up and go to my bed. Natsu grabbed my arm and looked at me with the same terrified eyes he had when he woke up. He then looked very embarrassed.

"I um, want you to sleep with, uh, me tonight. Please? It'll just make me feel better" he asked, quietly. My head started screaming _'NO'_ but something in my heart said to give him the comfort he needed. I nodded and he let go of me so I could change into my sleep shorts and my tank top. I came back and Natsu had moved over so he could fit me in his sleeping sack as well.

I snuggled in and Natsu immediately wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling my back to his chest. I rolled around to face him. My face felt heated as I realised how close we were. I looked up into his onyx eyes, a warm emotion dancing around in them as he looked down to me. Slowly, he leaned his face towards me.

 _'_ _Oh. My. God. Natsu Dragneel is going to kiss me! What the hell do I do?!'_ my mind screamed at me. I saw him close his eyes and I thought to do the same, waiting for his lips to make contact with mine. The only thing that came into contact was out foreheads. He lightly pressed his against mine and rubbed them together, in an almost primal way. I opened my eyes to look at him and noticed how concentrated he looked doing this. His eyes flicked open to stare at my own. I saw his eyes shift towards my cheek. He brought his hand up and brushed his thumb along my cheek.

"What's this?" he whispered, referring to the cut on my cheek from the bushes.

"Got hit by a branch coming back" I mumbled back. I felt Natsu hum, signalling he was chuckling softly. He closed his eyes and slowly, he pulled me in closer, moving his face into the crook of my neck.

"Lucy?" he whispered softly, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?"

"You wouldn't ever leave, would you?" he asked, pulling back so he could look at me. I was confused by his question.

"I wouldn't" I replied.

"You promise to stay, right?" he asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Of course I do" I whispered at him. He smiled in return.

"Where's all this coming from?" I asked.

"My nightmare, I don't remember it, but you were going to leave and something happened…" he trailed off, not wanting to finish what he was saying. I reached up and held his face with one hand, my thumbing rubbing his cheek.

"I won't ever leave, silly. Its Natsu and Lucy forever, right?" I replied, smiling softly. Natsu smiled back in return and nodded. I turned around so Natsu was now spooning me. Something about this felt right. Usually, I would have kicked him out by now, screaming _'PERVERT!'_ But right now, everything just felt that this was the way things should be. Natsu's rhythmatic breathing was slowly sending me off to sleep. Paired with his warm body temperature, it was a killer combo. Just as I was about to fall into dream land, I heard a faint whisper:

"Please don't leave me"

* * *

 **NATSU POV**

I awoke to the orange glow of the sunrise lighting up our cave. The light shone bright, nearly blinding me, and I immediately closed my eyes. I felt a little warmer than normal, which is weird because I don't feel differences in heat. I tried to move my arms but found they were stuck in my sleeping bag. Something moved against my chest and I was forced to open my eyes again. Curled up in my arms, was Lucy. I felt my whole body heat up and I froze still as she moved slightly against my chest.

 _'_ _HOLY SHIT! WHAT?! WHY THE HELL IS SHE SLEEPING WITH ME?!'_ I screamed internally. My face paled as I thought why.

 _'_ _NO WAY. DID I SLEEP WITH HER?!'_ I thought, panicking. I quickly and gently tilted her head, so her neck was exposed to me. Her skin was completely flawless. I breathed a sigh of relief.

 _'_ _Phew, there's no mating mark'_ I thought, glad I couldn't find a scaly mark on her skin. Igneel taught me that when dragons mate, they mark each other. The marks are a tiny patch, usually on the neck, with shiny reptile scales. The colour depends on the dragon and their mate.

Lucy mumbled softly and tried to get closer to me, feeling me as a source of heat. Her face was so relaxed, hair slightly messy. Her fisted were closed tightly against my chest. She looked so calm like this. I brushed a stray wisp of hair out of her face, smiling as her face frowned a little before relaxing. This close, I could smell her hair. Vanilla and honey, a scent that was distinctly hers.

I snapped out of my weird day dreaming and remembered that I was going to meet up with Dee today. Gently, I slipped my arms out from around her and climbed out of my sleeping sack, quickly putting on my vest, scarf and shoes, before turning around to look at Lucy. She frowned in her sleep and looked upset, probably from the loss of her personal heater. I sighed and unwound my scarf, folding it up and slipping it to her. She grabbed it and hugged it to her chest, instantly relaxing. I smiled before walking out of the entrance and jumping down the cliff edge.

It felt weird without my security blanket, my scarf. A light breeze blew and tickled the sensitive skin on my neck. I knew my scarf was in safe hands with Lucy so I shouldn't worry about it, but at the same time, the missing weight on my neck made me think about it frequently. I walked through the forest, heading towards the creek.

When I arrived, Dee stood at the edge of the bank, a little further up, filling up her large vase of water. I casually walked towards her and she noticed me coming. Her smile was larger than life when she realised it was me.

"Natsu! What are you doing here so early?" she called out, abandoning her vase and running towards me.

"Just couldn't sleep in, I guess" I replied, shrugging.

"Fair enough. Hey what did you want to ask me today?" Dee asked, looking up at me. I kneeled down to her eye level.

"Is there any way you could smuggle out two sets of clothing. Like what you're wearing now. I need a male set and a female set" I asked, explaining it clearly for her to understand.

"Why?" she asked, titling her head at me. I grinned manically.

"We're advancing to stage two of surveillance; Infiltration" I said, grinning crazily. Dee looked shocked.

"You're gonna get caught!" she cried out.

"We'll be fine. We'll disguise ourselves to so no one will recognise us" I explained.

"What do you mean 'recognise you'?" she questioned. I rubbed the back of my neck and smiled.

"Lucy told you about our guild, right?" I asked. Dee nodded.

"Well, we're famous for being not only the strongest guild but also the most destructive, and I'm probably the most destructive of everyone, so a lot of people know me" I replied sheepishly.

"You're famous?" she asked, curiously.

"Yup! Salamander from the Fairy Tail guild!" I announced standing up tall and proud. Dee laughed at me.

"Why do they call you Salamander? You're not a lizard" she asked in-between giggles.

"I really don't know myself actually" I replied, sighing slightly. With my enhanced hearing I heard a whistle through the wind, coming from the direction of the cave.

"Hey I gotta go. When do you reckon you can get the clothes for us?" I asked quickly.

"I can get them to you by midday. Just meet me here and I'll give them to you" she replied. I jumped up, fist pumping before beginning to jog

"Awesome! Dee you're the best!" I yelled out whilst jogging into the bushes. I turned around and saw Dee waving at me before I disappeared into the forest. I went into a full sprint towards the cave. Lucy must have only just woken up and must have been wondering where I went. I reached the cave and climbed up the rope, being careful not to slip down. I climbed onto the cliff edge and entered the cave. Lucy sat on one of our rock chairs in the centre of the room with a bowl of porridge in her lap. My scarf was wrapped around her neck.

"Hey" I called out, breathlessly. Lucy turned around and smiled at me.

"Hey, I was wondering where you went. I made some breakfast" she said, getting up to grab me a bowl of porridge. My stomach rumbled and I remembered I skipped breakfast. Lucy must have heard because she giggled. I frowned and took the bowl from her, mumbling a 'thankyou', before sitting down and eating my breakfast.

"Where did you go?" she asked, getting seconds of porridge.

"I went to talk to Dee" I replied, mouth semi-full. Lucy scowled at me for bad manners before continuing.

"Why? Did you tell her about the plan?" she asked. I swallowed what was in my mouth and nodded.

"When did she say she could get our disguises?" she questioned.

"By today actually. I reckon we disguise ourselves before going to see her, get into our stuff there, and go in with her" I explained. Lucy nodded.

"Does that mean I'll need to call on Cancer?" she asked.

"What for?" I replied, wondering why she would need to bring out her crab spirit.

"To change our looks, of course! How many people have pink hair, silly" she exclaimed. I ran a hand through my hair.

"It's _salmon_ …" I grumbled, sulking slightly.

"Plus, I don't want to dye it!" I cried out, covering my hair in protest.

"We won't be dying your hair. Cancer will put a spell on it to change its colour. Nothing permanent" she explained. I sighed in relief as she came over an took my now empty bowl of porridge and putting it next to the large pot in the centre of the room.

"Um Natsu, what time did Dee say she would deliver our clothes again?" she asked, curiously.

"Around midday?"

"You realise it's almost late morning now" she replied, crossing her arms. I swore and jumped up, stressing about the time. I was too busy stressing out to realise Lucy called out Cancer.

"NATSU!" she yelled, making me stop and getting my attention.

"Just sit down and let Cancer do his thing" she instructed. I quickly sat down on the nearest rock seat and Cancer and Lucy came over to me.

"So what's it going to be today, baby?" asked Cancer in his cool voice, snipping his scissors.

"Can you change his hair colour, maybe his eye colour too, and hide his guild mark, please?" she asked.

"Can do, baby" Cancer replied before using his magic scissors on me. I could hear them snipping but I knew he wasn't cutting my hair. There was a flash of light and then Cancer stopped snipping.

"How does he look, baby?" he asked, letting Lucy walk around to look at me. Her face reddened a little when she looked at me, before turning to Cancer.

"Wow, good job Cancer. He looks nothing like himself anymore" she said, praising Cancers work.

"Um, can I see what I look like?" I asked. Lucy nodded and Cancer handed her a mirror, which she passed to me. My salmon hair was recoloured to a dark ash blonde, my onyx eyes were now a deep ocean blue, and my Fairy Tail mark was completely gone. Lucy was right, I didn't even recognise myself.

Whilst looking at my new appearance, Lucy had been getting her new makeover. A blast of light signalled that she was done. I turned around to see her new look. Her blonde hair was now a light blonde, close to white, her brown eyes had been turned to green and her mark on her hand completely covered up. On closer inspection, her hair had been made to grow long as well.

"How do I look?" she asked, shyly. I stumbled on my words when I replied.

"Wow, uh you look, um not like yourself?" I tried. She looked at me questioningly.

"I mean you look nice" I blurted out, not wanting to get her pissed.

"That's okay, I just want to make sure no one would be able to recognise me" she replied before turning around to Cancer.

"Thank you for doing this. You can return now" she said, smiling.

"No problem, baby. Glad to help" Cancer replied before disappearing in a gold light. Lucy turned back around to me.

"Okay, we should probably get going. Leave large items like your coat, vest, scarf and your shoes here" she instructed.

"But my scarf-"

"I know Natsu, its special to you. But if you wear it in there, they'll confiscate it and you'll never see it again" she said sadly. I nodded and she passed me my scarf that had been wrapped around her neck. I hugged it, feeling the sense of security that resembled that of my foster father. I placed it carefully inside my pack bag. I walked out in only my white pants. Lucy too had ditched her large articles of clothing. She left her boots, socks, black skirt, blue jacket and top, meaning she now only wore her white bikini top and bottoms. Her keys and celestial whip had cloaking magic placed over them so that no one could see them.

"You ready to go?" she asked, turning to me with her silvery hair shining in the light. I nodded and we made our way down the cave and began walking towards the creek.

"Hey we haven't thought up new names?" she said as we neared the creek.

"Why would we need different names?" I asked.

"Because they would catch onto us, idiot" she replied, smacking her head. I pondered for a minute on my new name.

"I have no idea what I want my name to be…" I said, humming slightly.

"Well your name means summer and sun so go with something that has the same meaning…. Like…. Helios! Or Helio, either one" she said. I nodded, liking the name Helios. It could be shortened to Lee if I wanted.

"What about you? Any ideas?" I asked. She smiled.

"Ruby. I've always liked the name. It's sweet and pretty" she replied. We made it to the creek just as Dee arrived. She carried a larger vase that usual. I called out to her and she looked at me terrified.

"Hey Dee! It's Natsu!" I yelled, running up to her. She relaxed and smiled at me.

"What's up with your hair? It's not pink anymore" she said, pointing at my hair.

"It's _salmon,_ not pink" I mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear. She giggled.

"We just got our looks changes so no one would recognise us" I explained.

"Well your disguise is working because I didn't recognise you guys at all" she said.

"Did you bring the clothes?" Lucy asked, hugging herself and shivering from her lack of clothing. Dee nodded and tipped the vase upside down. Out tumbled a ball of clothes. She picked out a set of light brown loose shorts, a brown sash, and a loose grey-white cotton t-shirt. She also grabbed a smaller set of brown cotton shorts that looked like boxers.

"These are yours" she said, handing them to me. I nodded and walked into the bushes to get changed. I slipped out of my soft white cotton pants and red silky boxers before putting on the brown boxers. They were tough and coarse. Definitely going to cause chaffing. The rest of my clothing was the same. The shorts were too baggy and I used the sash to hold them up like a belt. My clothes itched from the rough material.

When I emerged from the bushes, Lucy had already changed. She wore a dress of thin cotton that came up to her mid-thigh. The edge looked as though it had been ripped. Around her waist was a thin rope, wrapped around to stop her dress from slipping. The edges of her skirt were tied at the back in one big knot.

"You ready to do this?" she asked, smiling at me. I nodded and walked towards her with my pile of clothes in my arms. We hid our clothes in the bushes so only we could find them. Slowly, we made our way to the entrance.

"Oh one thing Dee, you can't call us by our real names. I'm Helios and Lucy is Ruby. Is that okay?" I asked and she nodded.

"I figured you would need something like that. I'll try to remember that" she replied as we neared a small set of open gates. I looked at Lucy who looked at me, worried and slightly scared. I smiled at her before leaning over.

"It'll be alright" I whispered to her and she smiled weakly at me before Dee stopped in front of us. Behind her, were two open wooden gates.

"This is Delfieor. From this point, you guys go by your fake names. You are not allowed to tell anyone where you have come from, wait, don't even say you come from the outside. Just say you come from a different section. And under no circumstances, are you to use magic at all. Is that clear?" she asked. Lucy and I nodded.

"As soon as you get in, I'll have to go continue my job. Your guys are probably going to be questioned by the guards. Make a cover story, like you have amnesia or something, saying that you have forget where you live and your numbers" she explained. Lucy and I both looked at her confused.

"I'll explain the rest later. I need to go" she called out before running through the gates with her large vase. I looked at Lucy, who shallowed and nodded at me. I took in a deep breath before walking through the gates to Delfieor.


	9. Chapter 9 - Mishap on the First Day

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late post. This chapter was ment to be posted last week but we had that whole problem with logins and stats and stuff. So here is chapter 9! Also remember to rate and review.**

 **Enjoy! xxx**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any shape or form. All is the creation of Hiro Mashima. I only own my OC's and my places.**

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

Walking through the gates to Delfieor and seeing the enclosed town from the ground was so much different than seeing it from the cliff. There was flat, dirt ground for about 50 metres, and stopped when it reached a line of small old wooden houses that where bunched up together.

"So this is it" whispered Natsu beside me.

"Yeah I guess so" I replied back as we walked slowly towards a tiny brick path that went in between the houses.

"HALT!" yelled a deep voice, as two large poles with blunt metal spokes on the end stop us in our tracks. We hadn't realised a guard post was positioned right next the gate near the entrance that we had come in from.

"What were you two doing outside the gates?!" the guard yelled at us, grabbing us and turning us around so we were facing him. He was a big man, fairly muscular with a little bit of stubble on his face. He wore the regulation uniform; black coat with yellow trim, with black pants, black boots, and a helmet. I stuttered a response.

"We-e-e uhh, didn't kno-o-ow, s-ir" I replied, stumbling on my words.

"PATHETIC LIES! YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR LYING!" he yelled, reaching out to grab me.

"NO!" shouted Natsu, grabbing me back and standing in front of me protectively with anger flickering in his eyes.

"What did you say to me, BOY?!" he asked, coming up close to Natsu and spitting in his face. Natsu looked like he was about to punch the guard in the face but he remembered quickly that we were meant to be undercover, not making trouble. He bit his tongue and spoke calmly to the guard.

"I'm sorry sir, but my friend and I, we both hit our heads pretty bad and I think we may have amnesia" Natsu explained in a calm voice. I had to double take to check it was still Natsu that was talking and not some imposter.

"Is that so?" the guard questioned, slightly suspicious. Natsu nodded.

"Do you remember your parents? ID number? House section?" the guard asked. Natsu held his head and rubbed it before replying with a simple 'no'.

"The population centre is over that way. Go get new details" the guard instructed. Natsu nodded and turn away.

"Oh and hey kid," called the guard from behind us. Natsu turned around and was met by brass knuckled fist. The unexpected hit made Natsu drop to the ground, clutching his face.

"Hope that jogs your memory!" he yelled, kicking Natsu hard in the stomach twice before walking back to his post on the wall. I crouched down and tried to see whether he was alright. His cheek was bruising badly and cuts from the brass knuckles were causing blood to run down his cheek. The kicks also had also made him cough up blood.

"Natsu…" I trailed, touching his shoulder to see if he was okay. I had to quickly remove my hand from his skin because he was burning hot, as though he would burst into flames any second. Through his fingers, I could see his ocean blue eyes turning to reptilian slits.

"Natsu, you need to calm down! Your about to blow our cover!" I whispered at him. He didn't respond be he must of heard me because the heat radiating off him was radically reduced.

"I'm fine, we need to get to that office" he grumbled, struggling to stand up. I quickly grabbed his arm and put it over my shoulders, heaving him up as well. We walked slowly in the direction the guard had sent us. Natsu stumbled, clutching his abdomen and blood dripping down his check.

The Population Centre was a small run-down looking brick building with bars on the windows. We stumbled through the wooden door to find an interior the much resembled a bank. A severely run down bank, but albeit, a bank. The place was completely deserted and there was only one booth open when we walked in. Guards stood patrol in the corners of the room. We hobbled through the metal queue bars and made our way to the open booth.

"What can I help you with?" the man behind the counter demanded. He wore the exact same clothes as the guards that had confronted us before, but he had a different coloured stripe on his shoulder. I was slightly taken aback by his tone.

"Um we need new ID numbers" I said, trying to hold up a groaning Natsu. The man behind the bars looked at me like I was stupid.

"I am not giving you ID numbers. Give me a reason why" he sternly said.

"We hit our heads and we have amnesia. We don't remember our house or our ID numbers" Natsu explained. The attendant sighed before pulling out two sheets of paper. He grabbed a pen and began filling in one. He pointed at me first.

"You, girl, your name" he demanded.

"Ruby…." I replied, trying to think of my last name.

"Ruby what? You haven't forgotten your last name either, have you?" snapped the man behind the counter. I panicked and looked around, trying to find something that would give me an idea of a last name. I felt my hip and felt the outline of my keys and whip.

"Seren!" I exclaimed.

"Ruby Seren" I said again, finalising my answer. The man nodded and wrote my 'name' down onto the form.

"Age?" he asked, not looking up.

"17" I replied, only being truthful about my age.

"Parents, unknown, section, unknown…" he mumbled as he filled in the boxes on the paper. He grabbed a stamp from the side of the counter, flipped a few knobs, and then stamped it down onto the paper before putting the stamp back down and grabbing the other form on the counter.

"Boy, your name" he demanded, pointing at Natsu.

"Na-Helios" Natsu replied, almost saying his real name. The man frowned.

"Nahelios?" he questioned. Natsu shook his head.

"No, just Helios" Natsu replied. The man nodded and continued writing.

"And your last name?" he asked. We didn't talk about last names. Natsu would have to make up his own.

"Seren" Natsu replied. I had to stop myself gasping out in shook at him. He had just legally made himself my brother in this town. The man was busy filling in the form when Natsu turned to look at me. I gave him a look of ' _what the fuck?!_ ' and he just smirked at me.

"Age?" the man asked.

"17" Natsu replied. I looked at him again. Not only had he just made me his sister, he had also lied about his age too! He was 18, closer to 19 now, seeing as his ' _birthday_ ' was in a few months (using the term _birthday_ loosely because no one actually knows when Natsu's actual birthday is. He just picked out a random day when he arrived at the guild and it's been his birth date ever since). The man behind the counter ticked off a few boxes before grabbing the stamp, flicking one knob, and then stamped Natsu's forms.

"Wait here" he ordered as he got up from his booth and walked through a door behind him. Natsu and I looked questioningly at each other as we waited for the man to re-emerge from the backroom. We could hear loud banging and the whir of metal machinery from the back room. He finally came back a few minutes later with two chains with metal plates. He slid them through the slot of the bars to us.

"These are your tags. They have your ID number, name, age and sections on here. Keep them on you all the time and remember to return here yearly to update your age" the man drearily said to us, as though he had said it a hundred times, which he probably had. He grabbed a sheet of paper from behind his counter and circled two spots in red pen.

"This is where we are now-"he said, pointing to one red circle on the map.

"-and this is where your living quarters are" he said, pointing to the other red circle. He roughly shoved the map through the bar to us.

"Go find it on your own. Your big kids" he snapped before leaning back in his chair and putting his feet up on the desk. I wrapped Natsu's arm around my shoulders again and we hobbled out of the office. I held up the map and tried to get an idea of where we were going.

"Okay, so this street is here and this looks like this building here…." I mumbled, getting by bearings. I went to ask Natsu if he could figure out which way, but he was too busy examining his tag which now hung on his neck. I realised I was still holding mine and quickly slipped mine over my head. I held the metal plate in my hand. Imprinted on it was: 'RUBY SEREN. 17. LINE CY, SECTION 2, DELFIEOR, NO. 570768'. I imagined Natsu had the same on his. I figured out our position and walked over to Natsu, grabbing his arm, and led him through the streets and narrow passages between the tightly packed houses.

"Are we going to our house?" asked Natsu. I wanted to slap my forehead but I couldn't because I was holding a map in one hand, and dragging a hobbling Natsu with the other.

"Wow, good observation detective" I replied sarcastically. Natsu pouted.

"Hey, I'm no stranger to sarcasm…" he mumbled as we walked on.

"Why the hell did you say your last name was Seren?" I asked, turning at another street.

"Because if I didn't, we'd be split up. I didn't think you wanted that to happen" he replied. He had a good point. If we said different last names, people would have questioned us living together.

"Good thinking" was all I said as I tried to navigate through the labyrinth of houses and tiny streets.

"Come to think of it, why did you choose Seren?" Natsu asked.

"Seren' means ' _stella_ ' or ' _star_ ' in a lost language. I got the idea when I felt my keys" I replied as we turned yet another corner. We passed sections 1, 4 and 5 before we finally reached 2. The houses in all sections were of the same design. Small, wooden, old and two story. Every house was bunched up to the next one, making the walkways tiny and extremely narrow. We walked along line A and line B, until we got to line C. I couldn't say it looked any different to all the other lines we had seen. We kept walking until we were on the doorstep of block CY. The house looked just as old, and just as unsafe as all the other houses.

"This looks like a death trap" I heard Natsu mumble.

"It was your idea to go in depth" I replied before pushing open the rickety wooden door and stepping inside the death trap. There were three rooms in the house; the main room which held a small kitchen and some chairs with a table, a tiny bedroom with one single bed, and a completely empty attic. The whole house was a squeeze. Natsu pulled out a chair and plonked himself down, rubbing his stomach and face.

"Well, this is the shittiest house I have ever seen" he grumbled. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, we're doing in depth surveillance. The best way to get in depth is to blend in with your surroundings. In this case, it means living like this" I replied, putting my hands on my hips and huffing.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" he replied, waving me off.

"Oh, what are our sleeping arrangements?" he asked, shifting in his chair, being careful not to move his chest too much.

"Yeah, we need to figure that out" I mumbled to myself absent-mindedly.

"We have one bed. I'll take the floor" volunteered Natsu. I shook my head.

"No! You're not sleeping on the floor" I protested.

"Then where do you suppose I sleep then?" he huffed, folding his arms.

"We could use the attic or we could just sleep together. I mean, it's not like we haven't done that…" I trailed off remembering last night. My entire face went red. I looked over at Natsu, whose face was also crimson red. We caught eye contact for a second.

"Let's not" we both said in union as a knock sounded on the door. Trying to avoid any more awkwardness, I rushed to the door, curious as to who would know our address in such short time. I opened the door to see Dee smiling up at me.

"Dee!" I exclaimed, greeting her.

"Hi Ruby" she replied, hugging my waist and hips before letting go a few seconds later.

"Here, come in" I said, opening the door further so she could come in. I shut the door after her and followed her in.

"Natsu!" she cried as she saw Natsu sitting on the chair in the kitchen. Natsu opened his mouth to remind her not to say his real name but was stopped by her tackling him. He winced in pain as she jumped up onto his lap and hugged his torso. Natsu let out a short intake of breath that Dee noticed.

"Are you alright? You look in pain" Dee asked, pulling back to look at Natsu's pained expression. She noticed his bruised cheek with puncture marks from the guards punch.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he struggled out.

"No he's not" I interrupted, crossing my arms and popping my hip out to one side. Dee turned around to look at me, confused.

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"I'm totally fine, trust me" Natsu said to Dee but was completely ignored by her. I stood in the doorway glaring at Natsu.

"Helios got punched and kicked when we came in" I explained. Dee looked at me shocked.

"How and when!" she exclaimed, jumping down of Natsu's lap.

"Just after we came in. Some guards interrogated us. Helios stood up to them and they punched and kicked him" I replied walking over to where Dee was standing. Dee whipped her head around to look at Natsu.

"Why didn't you say that you were hurt?" Dee asked as Natsu looked away from us.

"Because it's nothing" he mumbled in response. He coughed which caused him to gasp out in pain.

"Right, Helios, pull your shirt up" I ordered walking over to him. He shook his head and held the hem of his shirt down.

"No way. I am fine" he stubbornly replied. I now stood in front of him with Dee at my side, who also had her arms crossed at him.

"Take it off" I hissed at him. Natsu flinched slightly before glaring at me.

"No" was all he said to me. I leant in closer to him so he could easily hear my voice.

"Natsu Dragneel, pull up your shirt right now or so help me, I make your pain even worse" I snarled at him. Natsu cracked and finally cowered at me. I turned down to Dee who looked at me with large eyes filled with awe and terror. I smiled and rubbed her head.

"And that kiddo, is how you get things down" I said, probably scaring her with the change in my attitude. I turned back to Natsu and flicked my finger at him, telling him to pull his shirt up. He sat up straight and hesitantly pulled up his shirt. I heard Dee gasp as the deep purple bruise just beginning to form on his lower chest was revealed.

"Nats-"Dee said but was stopped by me putting a hand over her mouth.

"Remember we can't use our real names" I said in a hushed whisper. Dee nodded diligently before I removed my hand from her mouth.

"Helios, we need to get you to Gran-gran Cass" she said as Natsu pulled his shirt back down. She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up from the chair.

"Who's Gran-gran Cass?" Natsu asked. I too was curious about this person.

"She's an elder in my section and she's also the sections healer and doctor" she explained, finally getting Natsu to stand up from the chair. I quickly moved to Natsu's side and put his arm over my shoulders, giving him some support in walking.

"I'm fine, I-"

"I'm helping you. Regardless of whether you like it or not" I said, cutting him off with a glare as we walked through the front door. Dee led us back through the twisting streets and alleyways.

"Hey Dee, how did you know where to find us?" I asked as we walked out of section 2 and into section 3.

"Oh that was easy. I went to the Pop office and asked for Ruby and Helios and they gave me your address" she replied happily, taking us through a set of unfamiliar streets. We stopped in what looked like the centre of the section. It was an open circular courtyard with a shallow well in the middle. The tightly packed houses circled around the courtyard with multiple streets leading into this area. A large house like structure sat at the very top of the circular courtyard.

"What's that?" Natsu asked, pointing at the large two story building.

"That's Gran-gran Cass's place. She doesn't really stay there, but it's easier to say it's her place" Dee explained. She grabbed my free arm and tugged me.

"Come on! Let's go" she said, pulling me towards the doors of the building. As we got closer, I realised that the building had a very distinct look about it. My eyes widened when I figured out why the building plan was so familiar. I looked over at Natsu whose eyes had widened as well, meaning he had figured it out as well.

Gran-gran Cass's place was a guild hall.

We were pushed through the double doors and found ourselves looking inside a large hall. This was no doubt a guild hall as Natsu and I recognised the obvious floor plan of the space. Where tables would have been, a children's day care was being run. Babies were nursed by elderly people and kids, no older than 6, ran around the open floor, playing with makeshift toys. Above, stood a large balcony, very similar to the second floor at the Fairy Tail guild hall. Dee pulled on my arm again, directing me towards a set of stairs at the side of the hall.

Natsu, Dee and I reached the second floor to find a door in front of us. Dee opened the door and took us through to what looked like a waiting area. She pointed for us to sit down on the wooden benches before running off down a hallway. Natsu and I plonked ourselves down on the hard wooden bench, his arm still around my shoulder so I was leaning on him. We sat in a square looking room with peeling wall paint and filthy glass windows that filtered in the light. A long hallway stretched from the centre of the wall on the other side of the room, all the way to what looked like the other end of the guild hall. Doors ran along both sides of the wall in the hallway, meaning there were smaller rooms leading off from the hallway. Not long after Dee had left us, she sprinted back to us, puffing.

"Gran-gran Cass _-gasp-_ she's _-gasp-_ coming here _-gasp-_ right now" Dee panted, hunching over to catch her breath. I chuckled and rubbed her head lightly as an old woman appeared in the door way. Her appearance mirror that of Porlyusica's. However, instead of her sakura pink hair and red cloak, this woman had silvery blue hair tied up in a bun and a tattered black cloak.

"Gran-gran Cass! These are the two I was telling you about" cried Dee running over to Gran-gran Cass and pointing at me and Natsu. The old woman squinted at us and began walking over to us.

"My, I haven't seen you two before…" she said, trying to figure out whether she had met us or not. I panicked.

"Oh, we've been living in a section on the other side of Delfieor" I replied. Gran-gran Cass raised an eyebrow at us, obviously suspicious.

"So you lived in section 34?" she questioned. I opened my mouth to answer yes, but immediately closed it when I saw Dee standing behind the elder shaking her head violently.

"No, ma'am" I replied. Dee breathed a silent sigh of relief, whipping her forehead as she did so.

"So where did you come from then?" Gran-gran Cass asked. It felt like she was onto our trail and she knew we were hiding a secret of some sort. Dee stood behind her, waving at me to get my attention. She held up a '1' and then held up a '7'. Gran-gran Cass must have noticed me looking over her shoulder because she turned around to look at Dee. Dee stood there, innocently swinging back and forth on her heels, pretending not to pay attention to us.

"We came from section 17" I replied. Gran-gran Cass relaxed and smiled at us, obviously not interrogating us anymore.

"So children, what are your names?" the old woman asked.

"I'm Ruby and this is Helios" I replied. The elder smiled at us again.

"Ahh, Ruby, such a lovely name. My mother was named Ruby" she said, reminiscing in her past.

"And Helios, that's a lost name. Ancient god of the sun, I believe. How did your parents come across this name?" Gran-gran Cass asked. Natsu looked confused.

"Uh, I think my parents read it in a book?" Natsu replied. Gran-gran Cass gasped.

"Oh, how exciting, your parents could read?! Did they teach you?" she exclaimed, getting all excited about having two educated teenagers in her presence.

"Only a little bit. Not much" I lied to her. It now made sense why the guard had filled the papers in for us. No one in this town could read or write like people in the outside world could. Gran-gran Cass looked slightly deflated now.

"That's alright, at least you're better off than most of us" she said. Thinking back now, Natsu also mentioned that Dee couldn't read or write.

"Still, you children have such interesting names. A lot the children here have interesting names, like little Dio- _mmph!_ "Gran-gran Cass explained but was stopped by Dee reaching up and covering her mouth. Dee was turning crimson red when she let Gran-gran Cass speak again. She laughed light heartedly.

" _Gran-grannn!_ " Dee whined, folding her arms across her chest and huffing. Natsu and I laughed at her as her face turned even redder. Gran-gran Cass turned to us again, this time looking serious.

"So what brings you two here today?" she asked.

"We got interrogated by some guards. They kicked and punched Helios for sticking up for me" I explained. Gran-gran Cass took a closer look at Natsu, noticing the bruise and cuts on his cheek. She gently held his chin, getting a better look at the injury.

" _Tsk_ , brass knuckles. These may scar a little bit depending on whether they heal properly or not" she explained, making it obvious this wasn't the first time she'd seen punches like this before.

"Is there anything else?" she asked, letting go over Natsu's face.

"Helios got kicked too" Dee piped up, her face now returned to its normal colour. Natsu shot a glare at her which Gran-gran Cass noticed.

"It's nothing, I swear" Natsu explained. Gran-gran Cass used the same glare I used on him when we were back at the house. He instantly caved in.

"Come on, pull up your shirt so I can see" she said as I removed his arm from around my shoulders. Natsu hesitantly pulled up his shirt to reveal the deep purple bruising around his ribs and stomach. The old woman tsked as she saw the bruising.

"You got a good kick from a pair of steel capped boots. It's a surprise you didn't rupture any internal organs" Gran-gran Cass said, lightly touching over the bruised area. She poked her fingers into the skin and Natsu yelled out in pain. She removed her hand and moved away, letting Natsu put his shirt back down.

"You've broken a rib, maybe two" she announced, brushing her hands together. I gasped and Natsu groaned.

"But, we don't have any money or anything to pay for treatment" I mumbled, putting my head in my hands.

"Pay? You must be mistaken child. I treat people under the age of 20 for free" she explained. I looked up her beaming.

"You positive?!" I exclaimed and she nodded.

"Young man, I'll need you to follow me. Can you walk on your own?" Gran-gran Cass asked. Natsu nodded before pushing himself up. His face was etched in pain and I looked at him worriedly. He caught my eye contact before flashing me a reassuring smile. He hobbled along after the old woman and did not make any sounds as he followed her down the hallway and into a room. Dee turned to look at me once they had disappeared.

"There's someone I want you to meet" she said before taking my hand and leading me down the hallway. We stopped in front of a door close to the end. She pushed it open to reveal a tiny room with one large window. The walls were peeling like the rest of the building and the floor boards creaked beneath my feet. There was a single bed in the room and a young boy lay sleeping in it. Dee ran over to its side and sat in one of the two chairs placed there.

"Hey Dex, wake up. There's someone I want you to meet" she said, shaking the boy lightly. He grumbled before rubbing his eyes and awaking from his sleep. His jet black hair was sticking out in all directions. He almost looked like a miniature version of Gray.

' _Oh Juvia would have a field day with him_ ' I thought to myself when I remembered Juvia's crazy obsession over Gray.

"Whaddya want, Dee?" the boy slurred in his half-awake daze. He then noticed me as I closed the door behind me and perked upright. Dee motioned for me to come over and sit.

"Dex, this is Ruby. Ruby, meet Dex" she announced, introducing us.

"I'm Ruby, it's nice to meet you" I said as I held out my hand for him to shake it, smiling.

"I'm Dex and likewise" he replied as he took it and smiled back. Dee pulled me over to whisper in my ear

"Can I tell him?" Dee whispered at me. I looked at her shocked.

"Does he know about us?" I asked. She pulled back and nodded before leaning in close again.

"I told him everything. Only he and Ria know about you guys" she whispered back. I nodded and gave her the okay to tell him. Dex looked at us confused.

"Alright I lied to you about Ruby" Dee said. Dex just looked even more confused.

"What do you mean you lied?" he questioned, scratching his bed hair before trying to pushing himself up further against the sack pillows.

"Well her name isn't actually Ruby, it's her fake name" she confessed. She looked at me and I nodded her on.

"This is Lucy. The girl I told you about" she explained. Dex's jaw dropped.

"You're Lucy?!" he exclaimed. Dee and I quickly put our fingers to our lips, basically telling him to shut up. He shut his mouth quickly before whispering.

"You're an outsider?" he asked, curiously. I nodded.

"How did you get in?" he questioned, I turned to Dee to explain.

"I got them some clothes and they came in through the river gate with me. It was really easy actually" Dee explained. Dex shifted his shirt a little and I could see dirty white bandages under his top.

"Hey, what are those bandages for?" I asked, pointing to the bandages at the bottom of his neck which obviously went further down on his back.

"Oh these are from the beatings I got" he replied. It clicked.

"Wait, you got beaten as well?" I asked, remembering how Dee had mentioned there were two others with her when the guards came after her. Dex nodded.

"Does that mean you're the one who patched up Dee?" he asked and I nodded, but I knew I could not take all the credit.

"Yeah, but Helios did the most. He was the one who really saved Dee" I explained. Dex looked at me a little confused.

"Helios? Who's he?" Dex asked, having a hard time taking everything in.

"Oh that's Ruby's partner. His real name is Natsu" she said in a hushed whisper. Dex nodded, understanding everything now.

"So you use magic, right? What's the outside world like?" he asked in a quiet voice, being careful to not let anyone hear him say the word 'magic'. I told him everything I told Dee. I told him about magic, the guilds, Fairy Tail, my friends in Fairy Tail and all the other things out side of Delfieor. The sun was beginning to set when I heard a knock at the door. We all turned around to see Gran-gran Cass standing with door slightly open.

"Dee, sweetheart, it's almost curfew. You need to start heading out" Gran-gran Cass said, smiling softly at Dee who frowned.

"Okay, okay" she huffed, getting out of her chair.

"See ya Dex! Bye Ruby!" she said before dashing out of the door, almost knocking Gran-gran Cass over in the process. She scowled in the direction Dee had run off in before turning back to smile at me.

"I'll take you to see Helios" she said, telling me to follow her. I got up out of my chair and waved at Dex.

"It's been nice talking to you, Dex. I'll come visit you again" I said and Dex smiled back at me.

"I'll be looking forward to it!" he replied as I exited the room.

' _My god, that boy is a spitting image of Gray_ ' I thought to myself. I followed Gran-gran Cass down the hallway until we stopped in front of a door.

"Your partner is still asleep. He should be awake soon. If you stay here, you'll be excused from the curfew" she explained to me and I nodded in response.

"What did you to do him?" I questioned.

"I sedated him with anaesthetic herbs and moved the broken ribs around. He managed to break three. He will be sore seeing as I had to put pins in his ribs and sew him back together" she explained. I grimaced slightly when I thought about those things happening to Natsu.

"It's okay, your partner will make it through" she said to me, noticing me cringing. My face went red at the word 'partner'.

"Um, ' _partner_ '?" I asked, blushing hard. Gran-gran Cass smiled at me.

"Yes, he is your significant other, is he not?" she questioned, noticing my beet red face.

"He's my, uh, adopted cousin. We're not, you know, related, but I still care for him" I stumbled out, trying to avoid having this old woman harass me about my love life.

"You may say that, but after spending a few minutes in that room with you two, he has some noticeable feelings for you" she explained and I felt my heart pound even harder.

"Okay" was all I could manage out as I felt my heart pounding in my ears.

"He does have an interesting defence techinque. Be sure not to let the guards see" she said as she opened the door for me. I looked at her confused and she winked at me, a sign she knew something. Then I remembered, Natsu's body sometimes reacts on its own, usually when he's defenceless. Multiple times Natsu's had to undergo surgery to fix bones and what-not and his body heats up or bursts into flames as a defence mechanism. I immediately threw my hands up to cover my mouth.

"Oh god, please don't sa-"I started but was stopped by Gran-gran Cass putting a finger to my lips.

"Shhh, your secret is safe with me" she said in a hushed voice. I mouthed a 'thankyou' just before she nudged me into Natsu's room.

"I'll be by with dinner in half an hour. I'm just going to be around the hallway attending to other patients. Oh and whatever you do, do not leave this building" she instructed me. I nodded diligently as she closed the door. The room was exactly like Dex's; peeling walls, creaky floor boards. A large window that over looked the town that was currently bathed in the orange glow of the sunset. Natsu laid in a slightly larger bed than Dex's. His sheets also seemed cleaner and slightly less coarse. The bed was on an adjacent against the wall on the left.

I walked over to Natsu's bed and pulled up a chair. At first it felt awkward, watching him sleep, but after a few minutes, I started to feel comfortable doing this. He looked cute when he was asleep. So peaceful and tranquil, compared to the loud and boisterous person he was when he was awake. The bruise on his right cheek was covered with a bandage, probably to stop the reopening of the cuts on his cheek. Every now and again, he would scrunch his nose up or bite on his lip. A strand of hair fell onto his forehead and I reached out to sweep it away. As I did, Natsu slowly opened his eyes.

"Whaaaa?" he slurred, trying to figure out why I had just touched him. I laughed softly.

"It's good to see you're awake" I said softly to him, smiling. Natsu just looked completely drugged up.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. Natsu tried to sit up but I stopped him when he gasped out in pain.

"Urgh, like I was just hit by a truck and then pounded by Erza" he groaned, earning a chuckle from me.

"No wonder. Gran-gran Cass had to sedate you, cut you open, rearrange your ribs, put pins in them, and then sew you back up" I explained. Natsu lifted his sheet to reveal heavy bandaging around his torso and stomach.

"How many did I break?" he asked, curiously touching the bandages.

"Three. She said you're lucky you didn't rupture anything internal either" I explained to him. Natsu shifted in his sheets, his face turning to agony as he did so.

"What a lovely way to start our time here…" he groaned, pouting a little.

"Enough with the pouting, Gran-gran Cass said she would bring dinner to us in half an hour" I said. Natsu perked up to the sound of food.

"Oh yes! I'm starving! I haven't eaten since breakfast" he exclaimed, trying to jump up, but failing miserably by getting caught in his sheet and falling out of the bed. Natsu yelled out in pain, which was followed by a long string of profanities. I helped Natsu back into bed without tearing his stitches. I told him about the miniature version of Gray I had met named Dex and all the other things I had found out about Delfieor whilst Natsu was in surgery.

Gran-gran Cass came in sometime later, finding me and Natsu laughing about a joke he made about our friends back at the guild. She scowled at us both. Me, because I was encouraging him by laughing, and him, because he was laughing so hard he almost tore his stitches. After her little rant at us, she brought us both a bowl of soup and a piece of bread, that we both almost broke our teeth on. No offense to the people of Delfieor, but even I could make a better soup. I had to remind myself though that Delfieor was basically a town filled with slaves and that food was not the best quality (i.e. stale bread that can break your teeth).

After dinner, Natsu and I talked a bit longer before his eyes began to drift shut. Once he was asleep, my eyes began doing the same. I laid my head on the Natsu's bed and used my arms as a pillow. However, just before I dozed off, I felt Natsu move around in his sleep. I thought nothing of it until I felt something warm around my hand. Before my mind went to sleep completely, I opened my eyes for a split second to see Natsu holding my hand as he slept. I went to sleep with a stupid grin on my face whilst holding Natsu Dragneel's hand.

* * *

Natsu and I had been living in Delfieor now for the past 2 weeks. Natsu was discharged from Gran-gran Cass's place 3 days after his surgery. Lilly, who was Natsu's nurse, was slightly suspicious at how fast Natsu was healing but we just told her that he's always been a fast recoverer. A few days into living here, we realised we had no food at all or any money to buy anything. Natsu and I ended up having to go out and getting jobs to support ourselves. I worked at a textile factory, making and repairing clothes. I made a few friends with the other girls my age who worked with me. As soon as Natsu's stitches were removed, he picked up work at the coal mine, working as a miner with the other men in Delfieor. He too had also made friends with a few of the boys his age.

During our free time, Natsu and I were either hanging out with Dee and her friends, or doing more snooping around and gathering info on the social structure of this place. We had discovered that there were ten chiefs. Each chief was supervisor of two of the twenty sections. They basically had the power to do anything they wanted to the people in those sections. If they wanted someone dead, they could easily make that happen. Above the chiefs were two advisors. They each ruled over 5 chiefs each. They just conveyed messages to and from the chiefs and had the power to kick out a chief is they wished to do so. Above them was the ever-elusive master or emperor. After all our digging, we still couldn't find out a lot of information on him, meaning we would have to start getting into higher security areas.

It was late afternoon when I finished work. I walked out of the textile factory with Sylvia (Sylvi), Natasha (Tash commonly) and Felicity (Flick), girls my age I had made friends with on the first day of working at the factory. We were chatting about the latest gossip on who's dating who. Flick was the youngest by a few months. She was short with pale skin and wavy orange hair. Freckles were delicately sprinkled on her face and she had piercing green eyes. Sylvi was younger than me by a few days. She had long flowing blue hair, which reminded me of Juvia, and warm brown eyes, like mine. Tash was the oldest by a year or less. Her long black hair was always tied up in a high ponytail with her fringe just brushing in front of her dark brown eyes. The girls all wore similar clothing to me. However, Flick and Sylvi both had iron cuffs on their wrists and ankles, like Dee.

We stood near the road that lead to the sections waiting for a familiar mob of boys to walk by. I was too busy laughing with the girls to notice the boys walk right past us. Mid-conversation, a hand reached out and grabbed my arm, yanking me away from the group. I was about to shout at the person who grabbed me, only to realise it was Natsu. He grinned at me with 3 of his friends standing behind him. Ross, the boy with blue hair, was Slyvi's cousin. He was 18, turning 19 at the end of the month. Next to him stood Henry. He had blonde which hung down around his face, grey eyes and tan skin. Henry had just turned 18 and was the second youngest of the lot. Youngest was Luke who had brown, slightly wavy, hair, green eyes and fair skin. He was 17 and was constantly picked on by the other guys. He didn't seem to mind though.

"Oooo Ruby's gotta boyfriend!" the girls behind me sang. I turned beet red as the boys sniggered at my reaction. I whipped my head around to the.

"He's not my boyfriend!" I screeched at them. I was answered by ' _if you say so_ ' and ' _sure, sure_ ' as the girls walked by. I looked at Natsu, giving him a dirty glare, before ripping my arm out of his hold and chasing after the girls. I walked alongside them until the boys caught up to us, walking with us. The girls and guys all knew that Natsu wasn't actually my brother, just my adopted cousin, so it wasn't weird .

"So how are you and Helios going?" asked Henry, being smug about it. Natsu looked embarrassed but I just smiled menacingly.

"I could ask the same about you and Tash" I answered back. Tash turned bright red and Henry gawked his mouth open before closing it, making him look like a gasping fish.

"I have nothing to do with him!" yelled Tash, her face turning even redder by the second.

"Oh really? So I guess when I saw you making out with Henry on Wednesday behind the factory, that had nothing to do with him?" I retorted, smiling smugly at Tash who glared daggers at me.

"We-uh, I can explain!" blurted out Henry, his face now also turning red. I looked over at Tash who looked about ready to murder me.

"Hey Ruby, can I talk to you for a moment? Come walk next to me" Tash said with a fake smile and through gritted teeth. I smiled at her.

"Would love to buuuuut, Helios and I need to get going. See ya!" I yelled, grabbing Natsu's arm and dragging him down the nearest alley.

"Ruby! Where the hell are we going?!" shouted Natsu as we ran through unknown streets. I just laughed like an idiot as we got lost in an unknown section of Delfieor.


	10. Chapter 10 - Mission Un-Impossible

**NATSU POV**

We approached the steps to our little house and Lucy knocked on the door. Light footsteps could be heard coming towards us before the door opened. Once inside, I shut the door behind Lucy and I and Virgo and Aries stood in front of us.

"Welcome home Princess, Master" Virgo said, looking at Lucy and them me. Aries fidgeted in her spot, twisting her hands around. When Gran-gran Cass found out about Lucy and I's secret, the first thing she warned us about was Magic Outlet Deficiency, or MOD for short. It is a spell-induced condition casted by the 'Vichama', what the town called the MM, purely to effect magic users in Delfieor. When outside of Delfieorian territory, a wizards' magic self regulates and does not allow magic energy build up. However, as soon as you pass into the Delfieorian borders, magic regulation is nullified, causing build-ups of unused magic energy.

Most days now, we had use as much as our magic as possible without being noticed. I continuously increased my body temperature so I could expel a little bit of energy. Lucy called out her spirits before we left for work and they happily stayed back at the house, playing games from the celestial world. When at home, Lucy would call out either Virgo or Loke to help with housework or activate her whip for long periods of time. For me on the other hand, anything that needed to be lit, I had to light and I was always flicking fire to and from in my hands at home. Virgo managed to find a small device in the celestial world I could use to drain my energy. Because Lucy did not have as much energy as me and she had a smaller capacity, the drainer could only work on me. It was a black wristband the fitted on my left wrist. Virgo explained to me how it worked, but I completely tuned out during her lecture.

"Um, welcome home, ma'am. I'm sorry we didn't help out" Aries said in a quiet and embarrassed tone. Lucy smiled reassuringly.

"You helped me out plenty already! You two just being here is a massive help" Lucy explained, smiling at Aries.

"Th-a-ankyou ma'am" Aries stuttered whilst blushing with embarrassment. We walked though into the main living area where Aries and Virgo had been playing cards for most of the day.

"Aries, could you come help me with dinner? And Virgo, could you go the celestial world and get some black clothes for us?" Lucy asked. They both nodded before Virgo disappeared in a flash and Aries followed Lucy into the kitchen where they would prepare tonight's dinner of rice balls and steamed vegetables. Tonight was also coincidentally the night that the ten chiefs were meeting. Thanks to some intel, Lucy and I were able to pinpoint the location of their meeting. Tonight was weird though. Usually, the chiefs would meet behind the second layer instead of the third layer.

 **(A/N: Delfieor is divided up into 4 layers or "rings". The open area or the "Fourth Layer" is the section where all the citizens of Delfieor live. Going up a layer, the first gate or "Third Layer" is home to the guards, soldiers and noble people in Delfieor. Next to that's is the second gate or the "Second Layer" is home to the chiefs, advisors and other higher class members on the Magi Mortem or the Vichama. . It's probably one of the most secure places in Delfieor with most chief meetings are held there. None of the residents in the Second Layer leave, unless one business or something. On top of everything is the third gate known as the "Palace". No one have apparently ever been up there and no one even knows who lives there. Also one of the other secure places in all of Delfieor.)**

Lucy and I had sneaked into the Third Layer many times now to complete reconnaissance. It was by far the easiest from the 3 other gates. Whilst Aries chopped veggies in the kitchen, Lucy walked back into our tiny living room and spreaded out a carefully sketched map on the small table.

"Alright here's the plan. We enter the same way we always do" Lucy started.

"Through the crack in the wall located near section 20 and the Detention wall" I replied, pointing out the position on the map. Lucy nodded.

"Yes. The hall where the meeting is taking place is located here" Lucy instructed, pointing to a large-ish building on the map marked with a red circle.

"So we just listen in on the meeting, and return back to here before dawn? Seems simple enough" I replied, folding my arms with a smug grin. Lucy smirked.

"Hey don't get too cocky now. That attitude could get us caught, you know" Lucy informed me and I nodded solemnly before returning back to my smug look. Lucy was quick to clear the map off the table when Aries came out with a meal she had prepared herself. She set two bowls down on the table before standing back and looking at us.

"I made a vegetarian stir fry with some rice you had left over. I'm sorry if it is not good!" she squeaked before bowing down at us. Lucy chuckled light heartedly.

"Oh Aries, this is lovely. Please, take a seat and join us" she said, pointing to the empty chair to the right of her. Aries blushed and nodded before disappearing to retrieve a bowl of stir fry to eat. We all squished together on the tiny table and ate our dinner. Aries did not give herself enough credit for her culinary creation. Virgo came back from the celestial world after Aries, Lucy and I had already finished and cleared up dinner. She handed us both sets of black clothing before wishing us good luck and disappearing back to the spirit world with Aries. Lucy and I both went to our respective rooms to get changed into our new attire.

In my little pile of clothes, was a black long sleeve shirt with a high neck that stopped just below my jaw, a pair of black baggy pants, almost similar to my usual white ones, black boots, fingerless leather gloves, a black bandana, a backpack with various items, and a black beanie. Putting on these clothes made my body cry out in relief. After only wearing rough cotton clothes for almost 2 weeks, my skin craved the touch of soft fabric. Do not even get me started on the feeling of silk boxers (which Virgo had thankfully included in my little clothing pile). The shirt was tight and hugged the outlines of my stomach muscles and arms. With the bandana Virgo had left me, I tied it loosely and used it to cover my nose and mouth. I grabbed my beanie, gloves (which I discovered were fire proof. Don't ask how) and backpack and walked down from the attic in my new attire.

"Yo Ruby, you ready?" I called out, knocking on Lucy's door.

"Just gimme a sec!" she called out in a struggled voice. I shrugged and walked away from the door and towards to kitchen to grab myself a cup of water. Whilst the water was slowly dripping into my wooden cup from the dodgy tap, I heard Lucy's door open. I peered around the corner to see how her outfit turned out.

"Hey, you ready to g-g-o-ooooo…." I stumbled as I took in Lucy's appearance. I dropped my cup into the sink, without even realising it. Lucy stood in the middle of the main room in a full body black suit, made with the kinda material ninjas use in their outfits. On her feet, she wore a pair of heavy duty combat boots. The top of her suit had a high neck, but was sleeveless. Even though the material was moveable, it still clung to her body and outlined her curves. Running from the top of her throat to just below her breasts was a silver zip. I had to avert my eyes from her top half in fear of a bloody nose. She tugged uneasily at the material over her breasts.

"I don't know why she picked this up for me. It's so revealing" she mumbled, trying to stretch the material out a little, but to no avail. I stood silent in awe.

"Does it look alright, Helios?" she asked, looking at me with an embarrassed expression. I was in such a daze my mind could not even respond to my fake name.

"Helios?" she called again, trying to get my attention. I still stood fixated on her, unable to form words.

"Natsu!?" Lucy whisper shouted at me. I snapped out of my weird daze at the sound of my name. I shook my head before looking at her. I could feel my face heating up.

"Do I look okay?" she asked, nervously. I nodded frantically.

"Yeah! I mean, sure, you look okay. I mean, great" I tried to say, stumbling over my words like some fumbling fool. Lucy looked at me funnily. I huffed and scratched my neck awkwardly, looking away from her eye contact. I looked for a distraction and remembered the cup I dropped in the sink. I busied myself with that until I realised she had walked back into the bedroom to grab something. She emerged wearing her fingerless gloves, black bandana tied around her neck to cover her mouth, and now wearing a black jacket which hid the exposed flesh over her arms. In her hands, was a wooden box.

"What's that?" I inquired as she set it down on the table to open it.

"Stuff that Virgo had left for us" she explained as she opened to box. Inside were two large daggers. Both of the blades were made with pure platinum. One had a white hilt and handle, with gold mixed in the platinum to look as though gold was dripping down the blade. The other was made with a black obsidian hilt and handle with an amber coloured stoned mixed into the platinum to give it a glowing effect. Each blade came with a sheath and a strap.

"Which ones which?" I asked, peering into the box to look at the blades. A small piece of paper was wedged into the corner of the box. Lucy pulled it out to read it out.

"Virgo says that the white on is mine and the black one is yours. Something about them both being unique to our magic" she read out. I looked in and pulled out the large black dagger. It gleamed in the candle lit room. I grabbed the sheath next to it and slid it inside of it, before taking the strap and buckling it around my waist. I looked over to see Lucy had done the same, but hers was on her upper right thigh.

"Okay, clothing, check. Objective, check. Map, check. Weapons, check" Lucy said, ticking off a mental checklist before turning around to me.

"How's your power level?" she asked me curiously. I shrugged and rubbed my neck.

"I haven't used much today and I can feel it building up a little bit" I replied honestly. Before we went out on missions now, we had to check our magic levels so that we would a) not run out of magic or b) not have an outlet deficiency episode. Either one was a terrible ordeal as it was.

"What about yours?" I asked her, playing at with my fingerless gloves on my hands. She shrugged.

"I've had Virgo and Aries out all day. I fell kinda low on magic energy but I have just enough in case we get into trouble" Lucy explained. I nodded and walked towards the candle placed on the small wooden kitchen table.

"Let's move out!" Lucy ordered as I blew out the candle, put on my back pack, and walked out the door after her. Shutting the door closed, we climbed up the makeshift ladder on the side of the house and jumped onto the roof. The boots Virgo had supplied us with had noise cancelling soles meaning that our footsteps on the roof would not make any noise at all. We ran along the rooftops, jumping from house to house. I led in front, directing Lucy where we were going. My Dragon-Slayer senses came in handy in times like these. Almost all Dragon-Slayers have super good eyesight in the dark so navigating through the town with no lights on at night was no big deal for me. We were getting closer towards the detention wall at section 20 after running across rooftops for 20 minutes. We grinded to a halt when we reached section 19/7.

Screams echoed in the night. Mostly female screams. Accompanied by the sickening laughter of guards men.

"What's going on?" whispered Lucy, slightly confused and frightened about what was going on down there. I clenched and unclenched my teeth before answering her question.

"Raid probably…" I mumbled lowly. The boys and men that I worked with in the coalmines told me about the raids once or twice. The thought of what they had told me sickened me to the point of throwing up.

"Huh?" Lucy replied innocently.

"Oh just a brawl between citizens and guards" I lied to her. I didn't want her to know about the raids and get all freaked out up here.

"Oh…." She whispered, covering her mouth with her hands as we listened to the screams. I placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder.

"It'll be alright. We just need to keep moving" I calmly explained to her. She nodded at me. We jumped from roof to roof again, struggling to ignore the blood curdling screams of pain and terror, which echoed all around us. By the time we reached the detention wall in the corner of section 20, the screams were far behind us, no longer able to be heard. The detention wall was an incredibly high wall which spaned from the outer wall all the way to the third layer wall. We jumped down into a deserted alleyway in the backstreets of section 20. I was on lookout as Luce crept behind the multiple box crates and steel barrels to find the small crack in the enormous wall.

"We good to go?" I whispered, turning to look at her. She moved one more wooden crate silently out of the way before whispering a 'yes' back to me. Lucy went through the crack first as I watched her back before I crawled through the small tunnel. The crawl through the narrow passage was a short few minutes before we arrived in the third layer. The place, which we had found ourselves in, was nothing like that on the other side of the wall. Beautiful wooden houses with quaint little front yards lined the streets. Some with flowers and green grass, others with stone statues or extravagant water features. The paths were paved with the smoothest and finest of stones with elegant street lamps that lined the streets. Lucy and I kept ourselves low and in the shadows as we moved stealthily towards one of the third layers town centre.

"How many times have I told how much this place makes me feel sick?" I whispered to her as we waited in the shadows for one of the upper citizens to return to their house.

"Too many. I can understand your feelings though. It's like another world up here" She murmured back to me. We slipped back into the shadows again and ran silently down the backs of many houses. Soon, the number of houses we passed dwindled, and were replaced by public buildings. Those houses that were left, looked even more extravagant and elegant than the houses we had seen before. Great, white marbled buildings rose above us as we drew close to the city hall. This area of the third layer was called Ida. Like the fourth section, the third section was split up into 6 areas.

The sections, named after the sacred mountains from a dead language, were Etna, Ida, Lichada, Othrys, Parnassus, and the largest sector, Olympus. Each area had a mayor and its own capital city, if you liked to call it that. Olympus was the biggest of all the 6 cities, with it being the only city which contained a door to the second layer. The area that we were headed to today was called Ida. In Ida was the hall where all the ten chiefs were said to be meeting tonight for their fortnightly gathering.

"I think that's it over there" I whispered to her as we continued to lurk along the dark alleys in Ida. We stopped briefly so I could point out a building. It was covered in white marble like the rest, with great Grecian pillars rising up along the front. The roof of the hall was domed (also covered in marble) with glass windows scattered within the brick work. Lucy pulled out the map and referenced it with our surroundings.

"That's the hall. We need to get around the back from here" Lucy replied, looking around at all the possible ways. Between here and the hall were well lit street paths with people and guards walking along them.

"Shit…" I mumbled as I saw the dilemma we were faced with. After checking multiple times, Lucy signalled me to follow her lead before sprinting across the road. I followed and met her on the other side, awaiting our next move. Stealthily, we crept all the way to the back of the hall.

"What do we do now?" Lucy asked as we arrived at the back of the hall. She looked confused as to how to get onto the domed roof. I grinned at her

"Just let me do this" I replied with a wild grin. I ran and jumped onto the side of one wall and jumped onto another, using the momentum from the jump to keep me going. Once I reach a high enough point where I could hang onto a ledge. From there, I clambered up to the top. I stood on top of the 2 story building, looking down on a very unimpressed Lucy

"How do I get up?!" She mouthed at me, angrily. I reached around into my pack and pulled out a rope. The long line tumbled down to Lucy as I held onto the end of it. She grabbed a hold and began climbing whilst I, at the same time, pulled her up. When she reached the top, we laid on the domed roof in the shadows looking down into a glass window. Through the window we could see the ground floor and parts of the walkway on the second floor. Book cases lined the walls on both the second and the ground floor. On the ground floor, was a large round table where men in elegant clothing made of beautiful silks and fabrics that had begun to gather. Their mouths were moving yet we could not hear them.

"I can't hear shit" Lucy whispered to me. I remembered when looking through my pack that Virgo had given me, there were these two weird looking cone things. I turned around and went into my pack, looking for the cones. I pulled them out and handed one to Lucy.

"What is that?" she mouthed at me. I shrugged.

"Virgo gave them to me. I thought they may amplify the sounds or some shit" I whispered back. Lucy looked closely at her cone thing. It had wide opening at the bottom, becoming thinner and thinner as it neared the top. At the top, it curved as if it was made to be put in something. Lucy placed the wide end of the cone on the metal edging of the window and placed her ear into the weird curved bit. Her eyes widened and she looked at me as if to try it myself. I placed mine onto the metal edging and placed the curved end into my ear. Sounds filled my ear and I looked at Lucy in awe. The sounds of chatter and laughter filled my ears from the men down below.

"Alright quieten down, quieten down" called out a man's voice. The chatter began to die down until the hall was in silence.

"Thank you all for gathering here tonight. I know this is defiantly a different meeting place from our usual gathering hall. But due to renovations, this will be our new meeting place" the man called out. Chatter ensued between the men until it quickly died down again.

"Elijah will be taking notes of this meeting" the man called out, notioning to a brown haired man sitting next to him in a green silk waistcoat.

"Whenever you are ready, Sessile" Elijah said and Sessile nodded. The men seated at the tables took turns in reading out findings and news from each of the two sectors they governed. Lucy and I took everything in, even though it was nothing interesting or worth taking note of. We began listening intently however when the last chief governing sectors 3 and 4 came forward.

"Richard, please report your findings from your sectors" Sessile began, notioning for a middle aged blonde man with a dark purple shirt to stand up with his folder.

"Crime in the both sections has been at a minimal level, guards have reported minimal beatings and all citizens have been attending work" Richard summed up quickly. Everyone around the table nodded in agreeance.

"I have noticed an abnormality though. 2 weeks ago, two teenagers walked through the gates claiming to have lost their memories of their identities, parents and their numbers. They were issued both new names and numbers" Richard announced looking through documents in his file. Lucy and I both looked at each other in shock.

"Numbers 570768 and 570769. Ruby Seren and Helios Seren" Richard read out from his piece of paper.

"I would just like everyone to check their census papers for the last name 'Seren" Sessile called out as all the chiefs began looking through papers. Lucy and I were in total shock.

"They noticed us…" I whispered.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll forget about us soon" she whispered back to me. One by one the men at the table shook their heads as they could not find the last name 'Seren' anywhere in the census forms. A ruckus began as men began shouting possibilities of what might have happened

"What if they're spies?!"

"People have finally found out about this!"

"We need to tell the advisors!"

"Calm down, Calm down!" yelled Sessile over the frantic chiefs. One by one, they all began to quieten down so Sessile could talk.

"We have two scenarios here; there are two spies inside Delfieor, or we actually have two teenagers who have lost all their memories. Either way, as long as they stay with our walls like the rest of the citizens, there will be no problem" Sessile said in a cool and collected manner. All the chiefs talked amongst themselves in agreement.

"Now, if all chiefs have reported their fortnightly reports, we have another matter to discuss. As we all know, surrounding towns are continuing to send out scouts our way. With the state that the population is growing, I do not think we can take any more citizens. Also taking into consideration most of these scouts are magic users" Sessile continued on, pacing up along the end of the table.

"I thought all magic was banned inside Delfieor?" I whispered to Lucy. She ignored me and continued listening in on Sessile.

"Sooner or later, magic users are gonna find a way to rebel against our authority. Any magic user in Delfieor will have the restraints tightened to cap any magic, rendering them as normal human beings. We do not want a repeat of the massacre 8 years ago. I say, however, from now on, any scouts who come our way from this point forward, should be gotten rid of as soon as possible" Sessile announced. The room was filled with a roar of agreeance. Lucy and I crept away from the window, panicking. Not only had they realised we were here, but anyone else heading in this direction would be killed instantly.

"We need to go" Lucy mouthed at me. I nodded, taking back the cone shaped hearing piece from her and putting it back in the back. The front zipper of the pack came undone and a can like object fell out.

"Oh shit!" I whisper/cried as the can rolled down the dome. It tumbled down the side of the wall before landing on the ground making loud explosion. I could hear the councilmen inside frantically running around trying to figure out what happened. Alarms and sirens began as guards and soldiers rushed out to find the explosion.

"Well you fucking did it! We can't get down!" Lucy cried over the loud sirens. I did the first thing that came to mind, grabbing hold of her and jumping down off the building, the impact being absorbed into my legs. The can had been a dust grenade, polluting the air where it had exploded with red dust. Lucy and I both pulled up our bandanas to cover our mouths from the dust and to stop us from coughing.

"INTRUDERS LOCATED AT THE BACK OF THE HALL! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" yelled a solider nearby. Lucy and I began frantically running through the shadows, trying to escape the guards who were now searching for us. Thanks to our sound adsorbing soles, we were able to run away from them in the dark alleyways. In record time, we reached the crack we had entered from. Scrambling through the narrow passage, my pants ripped on the broken rubble. With too much adrenaline pumping through my veins, I didn't really care at that point in time. As soon as we escaped, we sprint off through the sections to home.

* * *

 **LUCY POV:**

"Did you hear the news from last night?"

"Why? What happened?"

"There was an intruder in the third layer!"

"No way! Seriously?! Someone did that?!"

"Yeah, they say it was a lone wolf from one of the sections"

"That's so cool"

"The guards are searching for any men who were away from their houses last night"

"They think it was a guy?"

"Yeah a teenager, they reckon"

"He must be so strong and brave to go out and do that"

I leant forwards and whacked my head on the sewing table. There were so many things wrong with today. 1) I got no sleep last night, 2) we we're almost caught, 3) I have work today, 4) I have stabbed myself at least 20 times with this stupid needle whilst trying to darn these pants, and 5) I've had to listen to those two girl gossiping behind me, nonstop, for 4 hours now. 4. FUCKING. Hours.

"Heyya Ruby? You alright there?" came a voice from in front of me. I peeked my head up a little to see Flick leaning back to talk to me. I slammed my head back down and groaned.

"Those pants aren't gonna darn themselves, you know?" she said in a cheerful tone. I grumbled at her.

"Fuck those pants" I mumbled, popping my head up before slamming it back down. Flick laughed.

"What got you in such a rotten mood?" Flick asked happily. I propped my head up with one hand so I could see her.

"Stupid Helios snoring all night…" I lied to her through a groan. Flick just laughed happily. I could not understand how someone could be so god damn happy right now. Then again, she had a full night of sleep where I had none.

"Cheer up. Our work shift ends in half an hour. Just get those pants done and we'll be out of here" She said, smiling at me. One of the factory guards came by and whacked a whip on my bench, telling me to get on with my work or I could expect a beating. I picked up the pants off the bench and began stitching them again. And for the 25th time today, I stabbed myself yet again.

"FUCKING GOD DAMN IT"

* * *

 **A/N: HELLO EVERYONE! IT HAS BEEN A WHILE! Well actually 3 months but you get my drift. Many things have happened whilst I was lost in the void.**

 **1\. I broke my arm walking to school a week before exams . I only got my cast off a week ago and my arm is still really sore. I get an MRI next week to hopefully figure out whats going on or wether I need surgery or not**

 **2\. I FUCKING FINISHED SCHOOL! FREQUENT CHAPTER UPDATES**

 **3\. I'M GOING TO SYDNEY TOMMOROW! WOO!**

 **4\. I HAVE A JOB! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT AS MANY FREQUENT CHAPTER UPDATES D:**

 **5\. A main reason this chapter took so long to write was a) writers block, and b) I joined a forum thats currently making a game. I met a whole bunch of new people and I got so preoccupied with them, I just didn't have time to write. Once my wrist is better, I'm gonna apply for an artist position :)**

 **6\. I think I was gonna write something but I completely forgot...**

 **Welp, this is my splurge or writing at the end. I feel kinda awkward about writing things down here because my boyfriend knows I write this and I am frequently reading him my chapters. Sooo atleast my chapters dont have as many grammatical errors as what they did when I first started this (I went back the other day to the first chapter and saw all the errors. I cringed so bad. I apologise for my horrible writing)**

 **So as usual, review, favourite or do what ever with the story. Gimme some feed back, I wanna know how my story is through someone elses eyes. Oh and remember to ask me questions! xx**


	11. Chapter 11 - Rescue! Assemble!

**A/N: Just wanted to give you guys a heads up,**

 **THIS CHAPTER HAS A SLIGHTLY RAPEY SCENE AT THE END. IF THIS IS NOT FOR YOU, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. I DON'T WANT PEOPLE SAYING THAT I DIDN'T WARN THEM BECAUSE THERE ARE VARIOUS WARNINGS BEFORE HAND. IF RAPE OR ABUSE SCENES ARE NOT FOR YOU, PLEAS SKIP TO THE END.**

 **Thank you for your time :)  
**

* * *

 **ERZA POV**

My heart was pounding. Adrenaline was running fast through my veins. Various pieces of foliage whipped at my body as I ran through the thick undergrowth. I could hear the sickening cackle up ahead, my objective growing nearer. Leaping through the bushes, I entered a clearing. Muffled laugher echoed around me. I prepared my sword, stood in my defensive stance, and scanned the area.

"You'll never find me, pathetic hero" the voice screeched around me. I shook my head, knowing not to let her cloud my vision and enter my mind. It happened the first time and she discovered everything about me. I was prepared for what she would dish out.

"I do not listen to insults from a monster" I replied, cool and collected. No bushes moved, nor did the grass shift under one's weight. That annoying and scratchy laugh filled the air.

"My, my, you must have me mistaken for yourself. After, you are the reason _he_ died" the voice screeched at me. My thoughts flickered to Simon for a split second and she entered my mind. I tried hitting my head to rid myself of her. That laughter was bad enough echoing around us, but it drove me insane when echoing in my head. However, for a moment, my mind flashed to Kagura, Simon's little sister, and her thanks to me and her apology. I felt the banshee's presence lessen in my mind and I began to think straight.

"Huh? What? How come that didn't work" she shouted in annoyance. I smirked knowing exactly where she was. Turning 260°, I saw my mission objective floating in front of a tree in clear daylight. The ghost like creature was a human body of a middle aged woman. Her ebony hair floating as though submerged in water. From her head to her upper chest, her body looked solid, however, following down her body, it began to fade away to the point that there was nothing visible below her knees. Blinded by the sunlight, the banshee like creature shielded her eyes. I took my chance and reeled my arm back. Upon release, I let my sword go flying through the air, impaling the woman in the middle of the throat.

Her eyes went blank and she made a horrendous choking noise as her body faded from existence, breaking down into shimmery particles and floating to the ground. Soon, the banshee's body was no more and all that remained was my sword stuck into the tree. I walked over to the tree, pulled out and my sword, and crouched down to the ground, pulling out the little jar and shovel I was given by the town to collect the remains of the ghost. Scoop by scoop, I dug up the silver particles and the dirt around them and placed them into the jar. Sheathing my sword and putting the jar into my backpack, I headed back to the little remote town to claim my reward from the quest and finally go back to Fairy Tail.

* * *

' _Finally. Home at last_ ' I thought to myself as I walked through the large wooden doors of the Fairy Tail Guild. The client who I had completed the job for was so grateful, he took the silver particles, made them in cotton thread, and created me a magnificent cloak of shinning silver. It was currently draped on the side of my back pack, earning a multitude of 'awes' and baffled looks by passers.

The guild was unusually quiet today. Levy sat in the corner reading a book whilst Jet and Droy argued over some small issue. Gajeel sat a few tables over, sleeping with his head rested in his folded arm and Lily sitting not too far away from his partner. Cana, Wakaba, and Macao sat at the bar, drinking, whilst Mirajane, Lisanna, and Kianna served customers. Noticeably, there was no rampaging Natsu running around the guild. I guessed he had gone off on a mission of some sort.

I made my way over to the bar to talk to Mirajane and tell her of my completion. I hopped onto one of the bar stools, slid my back pack onto the floor, and called out for Mira. Responding to her name, Mira turned around and smiled as she saw me before walking over. As she got closer towards me, I began to take in her appearance.

She looked _terrible_.

Saying that Sorcerer Weekly's cover model was looking dreadful would be like saying that strawberry shortcake was disgusting, or Titania Erza (yes me) was not the scariest woman in all of Fairy Tail. It was completely unheard of. Yet here was Mira, looking the worst I had ever seen her. She had always been a beautiful woman with her flawless skin, shimmering hair, and slimming figure, yet now her skin was blotchy, with dark bags forming under her bloody shot eyes. Her shimmering, radiant hair, now laid limp, shine-less, and messy on her head. To top it off, her skin looked as though it was thinned porcelain, threatening to break at any moment. Her skin clung to her thin figure, no longer giving her than curvy, voluptuous look, but more of a pale and malnourished look. She smiled a shaky, fake smile.

"Erza! It's good to see you back!" she said in a strained happy voice. I nodded.

"It's good to be back. Job was a bit tough, nothing too hard though" I replied as Mira went under the counter and pulled out the large binder book. She flipped to the page where I had taken my current request.

"So completed job?" Mira asked as I nodded. She grabbed the quill and ink before writing in the details.

"You got the reward they promised? 100,000 jewel?" Mira questioned whilst writing in the log book. I nodded, smiling.

"Yes, I got the exact reward plus this clock they made for me from the ghost remains" I said, grabbing the silvery cloak

"Oh wow" Mira said in awe at the gorgeous cloak. I put it on for a few seconds, taking a twirl, before slinging it back over my pack again.

"So how were things in the guild whilst I was away" I asked, slumping back into my chair again. Mira smiled weakly

"Oh nothing much. Just as quiet as usual" Mira said through her strained smile. I stretched out my arms and went to pick up my pack.

"Well I'm gonna head back to Fairy Tail Hills. I need to rest up before I take my next request" I explained, slinging my pack over my shoulder. Mira lowered her head.

"Master has ordered that you not take another quest" she said in a low and hushed tone. I turned back around to face her, curious.

"What?" I asked, needing her to repeat what she had just said so I could properly understand her.

"You are not allowed to go on anymore quests. Masters orders" she explained a little louder.

"Wait, why?" I questioned. Makarov has never but a ban on me for quests, so something big must have happened.

"It's not my place to say, sorry. He has requested you come early tomorrow morning for a meeting" Mira answered politely. I nodded in acknowledgement, knowing the questioning further would not do any good.

"Alright, well I'll be here at 7 tomorrow morning" I said, shifting my pack to get comfortable on my back. Mira smiled weakly. I leaned over the bar to her, beckoning her to come close.

"Please go have some well-earned rest. You need it, Mira" I whispered to her. I sent her a small smile before walking towards the doors. I caught a brief glimpse of Mira smiling her normal, radiant smile with small tears glistening in her eyes.

* * *

 **POV GRAY**

It was a bright and early Saturday Morning. The cool morning air welcomed me as I walked out of the cold interior of my house, and into the sunlight. A brisk morning breeze rushed past me, making me shiver ever so slightly. It was just perfect for me. In my t-shirt, jeans and boots, I felt completely cool. Breaking into a steady pace, I began my short walk towards the Fairy Tail guild hall in the centre of town.

Juvia and I returned from our mission at Akane Beach resort just under 2 weeks ago. We were paid a hefty amount of jewel for fixing a cooler room and mending a water feature in the water park. Plus, the hotel manager insisted we take a 4 night stay, free of charge. Juvia's pleading and the manager's encouragement made me give into staying. What I hadn't realised, was that the manager had booked us into a couples suite. (Saying Juvia was "happy" was an understatement…)

Other than the room problem, it was an enjoyable 4 nights. Juvia and I were actually able to explore the hotel without being blown to bits or getting caught in some whirlwind of mass destruction, leading us out to some crazy psychopath and his huge tower of doom. We spent a lot of time in the casino, on the beach, at the pool, and any other place that included water. On the last night, I kinda owed it to Juvia for making us stay to relax, and took her out for dinner at one of the restaurants along the beach. I must say, when she's not crawling over me and is spending time with me alone, she's actually kinda cool.

I slapped my cheeks when I started rethinking back to our dinner on the beach. People around gave me interesting looks at the strange behaviour. I shrugged them off and walked through the iron gates of Fairy Tail.

I pushed open the great wooden doors of Fairy Tail and walked into the guild. The giant hinges squeaked behind me as I scanned the almost empty guild hall. Given it was early morning, I didn't expect a lot of people in. Macao and Wakaba sat in their usual position at the bar, Cana sat on top of a table not too far from them with Elfman and Romeo. Other members were scattered in and out of the guild. None of them, however, were part of my usual team.

I walked over the bar, smiling at Mira-Jane who was cleaning some glasses. She smiled at me before going into the back and getting my regular drink; Ice Blizzard Burst. A Mixture of vodka, coconut juice, ice, and this magic stuff which is like crushed ice, but replenishes ice based magic (like dragon slayers eat their elements to replenish their magic). Mira emerged from the back kitchen a few minutes later with my drink.

"Good morning Gray" she said cheerfully with a strained smile. Since returning, I noticed Mira had begun to look a little bit off. Now, after 2 weeks, she looked absolutely terrible. I returned a smile to her

"Mornin'n Mira" I mumbled before sipping my cool drink. I took some time to look around the guild again. It was really quiet. Too quiet for Fairy Tail. I realised Natsu had been gone since I got back so I can only assume he's been out on a mission for the past few weeks. I haven't seen Lucy around lately either, so I guessed it was safe to assume they had gone together. It was weird though how flame brain had been gone for at least more than 2 weeks and he still hasn't returned.

"It's quite a lovely morning today" Mira began, breaking me from my deep thought. I turned my gaze back to her.

"Yeah, it's nice and cool this morning. I was thinking about taking another mission today" I explained, continuing to drink. The vodka was making my head buzz a little.

"You've been requested not to take any missions…" Mira mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

"What?" I exclaimed, a little surprised that Master would put a ban on me like that. I hadn't done anything illegal for years now.

"It's not my place to say, sorry" Mira apologized quickly before dashing away into the back kitchen. I slumped back into my chair, downing the half full glass of ice blue liquid. It burned my throat like ice would burn skin. Any normal person would be screaming about the cold. I, however, relished in the chilling-cold sensation in my throat. I placed my head in my arms on the bar counter, beginning to take a light snooze.

"GRAY FULLBUSTER!" echoed through the guild. I scrunched my eyes and rubbed my ears. The old man was calling. I looked over onto the second balcony to see gramps leaning over.

"MY MEETING ROOM! NOW!" he boomed before running into the meeting room. I groaned, getting off the chair, and walked towards the guilds secure meeting room, leaving my shirt behind draped over the bar. Makarov only called members into the meeting room when urgent matters arised. I knew we were in for something like Nirvana or Jellal's crazy tower; part 2. I walked into the tiny wooden room to find Erza, Juvia, Gajeel, Wendy, Carla, Lilly, and Happy all sitting along the table.

 _'_ _I thought Happy was with Natsu…'_ I thought absentmindedly to myself.

"Thank you for joining us, Gray" Makarov said, in his normal-toned voice. I nodded and took a seat on the left side of the bench, next to Juvia, which ran next to a long table in the centre of the room.

"Why are we all here?.." Wendy squeaked from next to Erza. Makarov noticed and began the meeting.

"My children, as you are all aware, I have placed temporary bans against you taking any jobs of any sort. A much greater issue has arisen and needs to be dealt with ASAP" Makarov began. I could see multiple eyes rolling.

"What, did another dark guild start up again? Like Naked Mummy?" Gajeel jeered with sarcasm. Lilly elbowed him in the side lightly.

"No, this matter is one more internal" Makarov began to explain again. This time everyone sat straight up.

"What is it Master? Are the Magic Council trying to shut us down? Is the guild in danger?" Erza asked, trying to make up different scenarios that would jeopardise the wellbeing of the guild. Makarov continued to shake his head.

"No, no, no. The reason I gathered you all here today is because you 8 will be part of a rescue team" Master started to explain.

"Did some kid get lost?" Gajeel joked again in his sarcastic tone. Erza stepped hard on his foot, prompting him to shut up.

"This is a magic council authorised rescue mission" Makarov said in a heavy tone. I saw Erza's jaw drop.

"But, but, to have an authorisation, there must be a serious threat. Is Gildarts in trouble?" Erza asked curiously.

"No, but I can confirm he will be joining you on the team later on" Makarov continued. He shook his head lightly before burying it in his hands.

"My, children, I really don't want you to hear this, but your rescue mission may become a retrieval mission if you are not there in time" Master sighed, wishing he had not have had to say that. Gajeel's quick mouth stopped running, Erza looked shocked, Juvia looked worried and surprised, Happy, Carla, and Lilly all folded down their ears in fear, and Wendy quivered in between Erza and Gajeel, a worried and confused look on her face.

"What's a 'retrieval?'.." quietly asked Wendy to her older companions. Gajeel remained tight lipped, whilst Erza struggled to form words.

"Retrieval of guild member's bodies" Gajeel grimly answered to the young dragon slayer, confirm everyone's understanding of the mission. All members, including me, lowered our heads down in fear.

"What are the details of this mission? Where is it? What was the job about? How much was the reward? Who's involved? What is the nature of the mission?" Erza asked, cutting straight to the point, not wanting to waste time.

"What I disclose to all 8 of you stays within your team and this room. Under no circumstances are any of the other guild members allowed to know. You understand?" Makarov asked sternly. Everyone nodded in agreement and Makarov pulled out a map of Fiore, laying it flat on the table.

"Alright, the mission is located in a small town named Delfieor, closest town from there is Rythor. The job description was titled under "Get Rid of the Bandits". It wasn't until the job was taken, I was given full information about the job and its actual description" Makarov said, rubbing his face with one hand whilst using the other to circle around the area of Rythor and Delfieor.

"What was the actual description?" Juvia asked after being silent in the meeting until now.

"Delfieor was invaded by an extremist and murderous group known as the Magi Mortem, around 30 years ago. The job entails that the persons undertaking the quest must defeat the organisation and free the people of Delfieor" explained Makarov. Everyone around the table nodded in understanding.

"What's the reward for a job like that?" Carla asked from further down along the bench I sat on.

"Originally it was a 700,000 jewel job" Everyone (including me) gasped in shook at such a high reward. It seemed a little exy for an extermination quest.

"What do you mean 'originally', master?" asked Erza, with a curious look on her face. Makarov looked pained and worried, running a hand down his face for the third time during this meeting.

"Other towns found out that Rythor requested the mission and chipped in some money. At first it was raised to 5 million jewel. It currently sits at 300 million jewel" Makarov explained. If my jaw didn't hit the ground before, it hit the ground now. _300 million jewel_! That would be like winning the lottery. The things you could buy with that kind of money…

"Because of that, the job is now an SSS-Class quest. The wizards who took the request are way over their heads. And because of the nature and danger of the mission it has been classified from this moment onward as a red mission" Makarov continued to explain.

 **(A/N: So a red mission is basically a mission that is so badly wrong that only the Magic Council can authorise members' entry into the mission area for a rescue mission. Both the guilds participating and the Magic Council are on alert until the wizards partaking in the mission are returned back to their guilds safe or have been retrieved.)**

"Don't mind me asking, but who took the job anyway? I don't really see anyone missing from the guild" I asked, wondering who the poor persons were to take this quest.

"I would rather you not know. For your sake…" Makarov sighed, deep in sorrow.

"I purposely chose you 8 because if you were to find the guild wizards alive, they would recognise your faces and be comforted by your presence" Makarov explained. Gajeel gritted his teeth together, making the sound of squeaky metal.

"Master, just tell us" Erza demanded in a gentle voice. Makarov sighed before taking a deep breath

"The wizards missing are your comrades, Natsu Dragneel and Lucy Heartfilia" Makarov said with a heavy voice, drenched in sadness. My world stopped for a few seconds. Two of my best friends were on this death trap of a mission. What I couldn't get over though was the fact that I could either find them barely alive or just find their lifeless bodies. Lucy was like a younger sister to me, and Natsu, I knew we never got along, but he was my best friend and the closest thing to a brother.

I was broken from my thoughts by Juvia gripping a hand onto my knee. Her head was bend forward so her hair covered her face. I could tell she was trying not to cry. Erza was tight lipped, knowing what was being asked of her for her comrades. Gajeel looked emotionless as he bent a small nail in his hand, over, and over, and over again. Wendy's eyes watered and leaked tears as she struggled not to cry. Lilly and Carla both folded their ears back in fear, whilst Happy silently let tears dribble down his face at the prospect of losing his No. One best friend (also adoptive dad) and No. Two best friend. I placed my hand on top of Juvia's, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I know you all want to grieve and cry, but we have no time. We must rescue Natsu and Lucy at once" Makarov began, breaking the few minutes of silence.

"What do we do?" Wendy said with a cracking voice.

"Fastest mode of transport to Delfieor is via train. Take the train to Rythor and navigate with help from the locals to Delfieor. Gildarts will meet you at Delfieor" Makarov explained.

"Your main objective is to rescue Natsu and Lucy. If rescue is no longer possible, retrieve the bodies" Makarov said, having dread saying the last part.

"Any questions?" asked Makarov, looking around the table. No one uttered a word.

"You are all dismissed. I want an update as soon as you have reached Delfieor and have rescued Natsu and Lucy" Makarov finished up. Everyone removed themselves from the benches and walked back out into the guild. I immediately ran through the doors of the guild and straight to my house and began backing my clothes and food to take on this mission.

I had to save them, no matter what. I swore on my life. I couldn't afford to lose another family.

* * *

 **POV LUCY**

Today was a Saturday. What's so great about Saturday's? Half Days. And what's so great about half days? 7 hours of work. I literally jumped high enough to jump over the wall when I left work. Flick and Sylvia just watched me as I bolted faster than Jet, across through dirt plain towards the houses. Getting to and from work was easy now. I could easily navigate my way through the sections and alleyways without getting lost.

I reached our house in record time. Natsu must have not been home yet as the door was still closed shut with a rock in front of the door. I moved the rock and opened the rickety wooden door to our little house. I brushed off my bare feet a little, but it really made no difference because the house was dirty regardless. I went around to the kitchen sink/bench and dumped my bag of food onto the table. Work pays us in money, but most of the time, they pay us in fresh produce (or the closest thing to fresh which was anything older than 5 days). I grabbed out a small piece of bread from the pantry and slowly walked around to the table to sit down. Biting into the bread, I let out a yelp of pain.

"Jesus Christ! Ow!" I cried, rubbing my jaw and glaring menacingly at the stone-hard piece of bread. Three knocks tapped on the front door of the small hut, echoing through the house.

"Yo, I'm home!" bellowed Natsu from the front door. The door opened and shut, signalling he was inside. He walked into the kitchen/main room covered in soot and black tar marks, making his stupid trade mark grin as he saw me.

"How was your work?" he asked, walking over the kitchen bench and dumping his payment of food onto the counter.

"Meh, about as good as it would get. I didn't discover any new information. How was your luck?" I asked, tossing my one-thousand year old bread onto the table. Natsu was quick in snatching it up and take a bite out of it, making the same face and getting the same results as I did.

"I did that before…" I mumbled to him, knowing full well that he would have heard me with his enhanced hearing.

"Same ol', same ol'. Nothing new in the mines" Natsu replied before discarding the piece of bread onto the table in between us.

"Do we have anything to eat? I'm starving" Natsu moaned, rubbing his stomach as it made grumbling noises.

"You're looking right at it" I said, pointing at the piece of bread in the middle of us. Natsu glared at it.

"That thing isn't food, it's a rock. I almost broke my jaw on that thing" he said, rubbing his jaw gingerly.

"Well I guess I could try to find something in the cupboard" I responded. Natsu jumped up, thrilled by the thought of food.

"Just let me check what we've got. I need to ma-" I explained but stopped when Natsu rushed past me to the pantry. A strong, pungent and putrid wave of body odour and sweat swamped my senses.

"Oh ,ho ,ho. Stop RIGHT THERE HELIOS. There is no way you are touching that pantry without getting clean!" I screeched. Natsu halted in his tracks and turned smugly towards me.

"How do I get clean if we have no bath" he said, smilling smugly at me. I returned his grin and his face faltered.

"Why, well we'll have to talk to our friend. I'm she will know _somewhere_ to get a bath" I replied, knowing I had won this argument. Natsu looked at me in defeat, slinking back towards the front door so we could go find our go-to-guide for Delfieor.

* * *

After dragging a very reluctant Natsu all the way over to Gran-Gran Cass's Inn to try and find Dee, we both felt so clean, I'm surprised the disguise spell hadn't washed off. Also, by coincidence, Gran-Gran Cass was providing soup to all Delfieorian residents. She said that some people can't provide for their families while others don't know how to cook. She gathers all her own ingredients and has donations from other people to make a soup to serve hundreds of people. Let's just say, Natsu got a bit carried away.

Gran-Gran Cass even went out of her way by introducing us to everyone dinning in the hall. We received many questions from young and old, asking about our old lives and our parents. We answered the best we could and thankfully, Gran-Gran Cass or Dee would save us from questions we didn't know the answers too. The doors to the old Guild Hall shut twenty minutes ago and Natsu and I now strolled back to our section in the dim setting sun, with clean skin, full bellies, and smiles on our faces.

"That was a good feed. I'm all fired up!" Natsu cried cheerfully, rubbing his belly and fist pumping. I smiled happily.

"It's definitely one of the better nights since we stayed here" I replied, rubbing the back of my head slightly.

"I could definitely go for seconds again. I'm soo hungry" Natsu groaned. I whacked him over the head, causing him to explain.

"How are you still hungry?! And you wouldn't even be going for seconds, you would be going for eighths, you dolt" I scowled at him. We continued our constant bickering and back-and-forth banter until we reached our house. Natsu walked in first and I shut the door behind me. The little main room was in complete darkness due to the house having little windows and it being dark outside.

"Hey Helios, can you light a candle for me?" I called out as I stumbled around in the dark, trying not to bump into things. I heard a "yes" somewhere nearby and someone rushing past me. Natsu had completely unhindered vision in the darkness so he had no trouble navigating to the kitchen to get a candle. I however had to stub my toe 4 times before I could find anything. A little light glowed in the kitchen and I could see a silhouette on the wall of Natsu bending over the candle and shielding it from blowing out.

He walked over to me when I stood at the entrance. As he came towards me, I could see his face illuminated in the dark. The candle lit up his face with a warm, earthy glow, tinting his blonde hair orange. My cheeks felt hot and my heart began to race slightly

 _'_ _What the hell is going on with me?!'_ I screamed at myself internally. Natsu handed me over the candle and walked back into the kitchen.

"Thankyou" I mumbled quietly. Natsu nodded an appreciation of 'No worries'.

"So what do we do?" I asked, standing the candle upright on the wooden kitchen top and pulling up a chair. Natsu pondered for a minute before breaking into that crazy grin of his.

"Oh god, what?" I blandly asked.

"We can totally play hide and seek!" He announced, throwing his hands up in the air and jumping up and down with joy. I looked at him incredulously.

"Are you mad? We can't play that! I can't see in the dark!" I exclaimed, pointing around in the pitch black to emphasize my point.

"Well it's not you that's seeking, your hiding. I can see well in the dark and I can practise using my senses. You just need to go hide and blow out the candle. When I find you, I'll light it" He explained. Thinking about it now, it didn't seem too bad. This was basically just practise for him.

"Okay, fine. I'll play along. Count to 50 and I'll go hide" I said, agreeing to his terms of the game. He turned around with his wild grin, covered his eyes and ears, and began counting to 50. I grabbed the candle and made a quick dash for the main bedroom. He was already at 20. I blew out the candle and wriggled my way underneath the bed. He was at 45.

"Ready, or not, here I come!" Natsu chanted. I could hear the floor boards in the next room creak as he moved.

"I'm only using my sense of hearing this round" He announced from another room. I tried to slow down my breathing, but it didn't work all too well. The adrenaline from playing this silly game was pulsing through my veins, making me feel like I was actually running and hiding from something. I could hear him picking up things and putting them down in the next room. It was only a matter of time before he came in here. The door creaked open and I heard his bare feet on the floor boards.

"Oh Lucy, Lucy. Where are you?" he cooed in a strangely sweet and melodic voice. My heart was beginning to race.

"I can hear you breathing" Natsu said in a low and husky tone. I held my breath, trying not to breathe at all now. A hand from nowhere reached out and grabbed my arm. I shrieked.

"Found ya" Natsu laughed cockily. I crawled out from under the bed and scowled at him. With the snap of his fingers, my candle was lit again.

"Don't scare me like that" I pouted at him.

"Okay, next round. I'll find you with my sense of touch" he said, completely ignoring my pout and turning around to begin counting to 50. I quickly darted out of the bedroom and into the main room. I had to find a good hiding spot. He was already at 30. I opened up a cabinet in the kitchen. It was empty.

"45" he yelled out. I panicked and jumped inside the cupboard, blowing out the candle.

"50! Ready or not, here I come!" Natsu sang out, quite melodically. I shivered inside my tiny space. It wasn't really the best hiding spot. The bedroom door opened and floor boards creaked. I couldn't really tell when he was moving. I was about to let out a sigh of relief when the door was swung open.

"I found you" he announced. I looked at him in amazement as he lit the candle.

"How did you find me so quick?!" I asked bewildered.

"The cabinet creaked a lot so I could feel the vibrations" Natsu explained. I smirked devilishly.

"Well since it's only fair that you've chosen what you can use to find me, I should be allowed to choose what you can't use" I said. Natsu cocked his head to the side, confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Gimme a second" I said, grabbing my candle and running over to the bench where the coarse bag full of food sat. I tore off one long strip and 2 other little scrappy pieces. I walked back over to Natsu with the cloths in my hand.

"Uh, what are you going to do with those?" He questioned, unsure about my intentions.

"Just turn around" I ordered. Natsu obeyed and turned around so I could tie to the longest piece of cloth around his head to make a blindfold.

"I'm going to eliminate your sense of sight and your sense of hearing" I explained.

"That's gonna be hard! No fair!" Natsu whined in protest.

"Hey you wanted to do the training" I reasoned. Natsu nodded, knowing I had a point. I squished the two little piece of cloth into Natsu's ears, making little ear buds. He turned around and began counting. I tip toed towards the front door and hid behind a thick wooden pillar planted on solid stone

 _'_ _He can't see me, and he can't feel my movements_ ' I thought to myself.

"50! Ready or not, here I come!" The old rhyme was called out. Instead of the precise and quiet movements I heard last time, there were shaky and uncoordinated, like me when I'm stumbling in the dark. I sniggered to myself as I heard him curse and swear at everything around him. It was almost like he was blind without his sight and hearing. After about 10 minutes of stumbling and swearing, everything went quiet. It was way too quiet for this game.

 _'_ _Where the hell is he?'_ I thought, straining to hear a sound to tell me of his location. It was getting creepy now. He couldn't have gone anywhere other than this room. I had blocked his two major senses. His sight and hearing. The only other thing was-

 _'_ _Shit! I forgot his smell!_ ' I thought. A warm body collided with mine, knocking me to the floor. I was trapped underneath their body weight. The smell of wildfires, smoke and herbs washed over me.

"I can never forget your smell" a husky voice whisper/said to me. I folded my arms and scowled.

"This game isn't fair" I grumbled before reaching up above and untying his blindfold. It drifted down on top of me. Natsu opened his eyes to show iridescent orbs glowing like burning embers.

"I found you Luce" Natsu whispered, saying my old nickname. I wanted to yell at him for saying my real name, but I couldn't care less. Natsu was trapping me with his arms and straddling my hips.

 **TRIGGER WARNING: GORE AND SOME RAPE-Y SCENES. PLEASE DON'T READ THIS LAST BIT IF YOU ARE EFFECTED BY RAPE-ISH SCENES**

 **YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED**

We stared at each other for a good few seconds. Like the flick of a switch, Natsu's reptilian eyes widened into slits. I looked at him confused.

"What's go-"

"Shush" he whispered, covering my mouth with his hand, stopping me from talking at all. His expression was turning from curiosity, to anger, to worry. I could hear footsteps outside and muffled sounds, like screams, coming all around us.

It happened to fast for me to process. Natsu rolling over to shield me with his back, the front door exploding into thousands of little shards. Natsu hissed as he held onto me, protecting me from the blast. He let go of me and jumped up to his feet. I shakily climbed up, scared and unsure what was going on. Men were shouting, women were screaming. It was madness that made my blood chill. Four buff looking men in guard outfits stood where our front door use to be. They swayed uneasily from side to side.

"Hey men, would you look at that pretty thing" a guard with black, curly hair slurred, pointing at me as I stood behind Natsu. He was drunk. Natsu growled lowly at the guys in the doorway, standing in front of me as a protection barrier.

"The prettiest thing all night" a guard was red scruffy hair mumbled groggily. He too was drunk.

"Piss off you drunken bastards" Natsu threatened. His body was heating up slightly. This was not good.

"Look, the fly has a brain. If you were smart, you would know that what's yours, is ours. Which means that bitch belongs to us" the buffest guard with a stubbly beard said. He was obviously the leader of the other three.

"She belongs to no one" Natsu defended, putting on a fierce stance.

"Oh really now" the large guard asked sarcastically. His glare darkened and he smiled evilly.

"Get him boys" he order and the red heard soldier and a bald soldier rushed over with lighting fast speed. Both landed a fist in his gut, knocking him for a few seconds. The two guards held his arms up so he was held up in a 'T' shape. Two hands reach around me and grabbed my waist and held my hands together. I thrashed around trying to break free.

"You are not going anywhere you slut" a hot breath whispered into my ear. I froze in my position, completely terrified. Natsu, who was being held out in front of me, was beginning to come back to his senses.

"Get off her!" he screamed, kicking and thrashing around. The head guard came over and punched him in the face. Natsu spat blood to the side before the head guard held Natsu's chin up to face him.

"We won't let go. She is ours. And you are gonna watch us break her" he spat at Natsu. He looked terrified, yet he looked ready to murder. The head guard walked back over towards me as the other three snickered at Natsu.

"I'm gonna have fun with you" he growled in a way that made me want to throw up. Two hands ghosted along the outline of my body. I froze on the spot, scared and unsure of what was going on. Beefy hands reached out and grabbed my breasts firmly, squeezing them hard. I screamed in agony and the men laughed.

"Don't fucking touch her!" yelled Natsu, trying to break free but to no avail. Fingers traced the outline of my lips. I bit down hard on the head guards finger, making him bleed. He swore in pain, whilst I grinned. Not for long though. He threw a punch at me, making my nose bleed and blood run out of my mouth. He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him.

"Your stupid little bitch. You are mine. Disobey me like that again and I will fuck you to shreds" he hissed through gritted teeth. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Tears pricked in my eyes and rolled down my face.

"Ruby!" Natsu cried out, still trying to break free. I cried as the head guard pulled out a knife and slashed off my dress at the waist, revealing everything from the hips downward. The other men stared at me hungrily, like I was meat. I could feel hands wandering down my stomach, along my hips and into my underwear. A hand touched a sensitive part in between my legs. As an auto reaction, I kicked my legs out in front of me. I successfully landed a kick in the head guard's crotch region. He cursed and swore until he was able to stand up again. He punched me in the gut, hard, and I gasped for air.

"You fucking slut. Your gonna wish you were never born!" he yelled before putting his hands around my throat and choking me.

"LUCY! LET HER FUCKING GO!" Natsu screamed in pure rage. I could see him thrashing like crazy. Tears streamed down my face.

"Or your gonna what?" the head guard asked slyly, knowing he would get away with this. Natsu lowered his gaze to the most murderous look I had ever seen.

"I'll kill you all" he said in a voice that was not his own. The voice chilled me and scared me. My vision had started to blacken and I was gasping for air. Tears continued to stream out as my vision darkened.

"Natsu…help" I whispered before my entire vision darkened and I could feel the world falling around me. A warm ember glow embraced me, like flames crackling in a fire. Then everything went dark

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

 ** _"_** ** _Ruby"_**

 ** _"_** ** _Ruby!"_**

 _I think someone's calling me. I don't think that's my name though._

 ** _"_** ** _Lucy!"_**

 _That's me. I think._

 ** _"_** ** _Lucy! Wake up!"_**

 _Am I asleep? What happened?_

 ** _"_** ** _Can you hear me?!"_**

 _I can hear him fine._

 _My body feels like it's just floating into nothingness. There were some men. There were four of them. They had a boy_

 ** _Natsu_**

 _Natsu's calling me. Can I wake up? What happened? Where am I?_

* * *

Bleary senses groggily awoke me to the strong smell of smoke. It was warm, but not two warm. My eyes opened slowly. It was blurry at first, but after some time, I was able to make out the face of a young man sitting in front of me, crouching down and holding me up. The room was charred black, little fires still burning on the bashed, wooden walls. Natsu held me, his face bruised and bloodied, his hair singed slightly at the ends.

"Natsu…" I mumbled numbly, not sure what the hell was going on. He obviously heard me because his face lit up in relief and his eyes began to water. Natsu pulled me into a hug, obviously trying not to cry.

"I'm so sorry Lucy, I'm so so sorry" I muffled into my shoulder. I was too exhausted to move so I let him stay there for a few minutes. When he pulled away, I was able to sit up properly. Natsu sat, kneeling in front of me. The room looked like it had been on fire. Smoke overwhelmed my senses and made me cough. Furniture was smashed, walls broken and charred, a pile of what looked like fabric was crumpled and squashed behind Natsu, and some unlucky pieces of furniture were burned to the crisp behind me. It smelled like someone had been cooking something and burnt it badly.

"Natsu…what happened here?" I asked, still very shaken and unsure of what was going on. Natsu hid his hands behind his back and lowered his head.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, trying to move away.

"Please tell me what happened" I pleaded, moving close towards him. He shuffled back away from me.

"Don't touch me" he said, in a soft yet warning voice. I was curious about his hands. What the hell was he hiding?

"Natsu, show me your hands" I asked. He shook his head and I coaxed him again, and again until he finally gave in. His shaky hands emerged from behind his back slowly.

"Oh Natsu…." I trailed in complete shock.

"I am so sorry. I'm a monster" he said, looking up at me, tears rolling down his face. His hands that he held out in front of me were missing pieces of flesh. Burns scattered here and there all over his hands. What disturbed me most though, was that his hands were cake and covered in blood all the way up to his elbow. My stomach churned when I soon realised what that crumpled mess behind Natsu was, and what the charred 'furniture' behind me was.

 _'_ _He killed them all….'_

* * *

 **A/N: 1. HEY GUYS! HOW HAS EVERYONE BEEN?! GREAT?! THATS FABULOUS!  
**

 **2\. I really hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter. It's been a long time coming with all the shit thats been going on at home.**

 **3\. Speaking of lateness, I would sincerely like to appologise for the late updates on chapters. Yet at the same time, I would also like to request that people don't haggle me about upload dates. Theres a lot of family stuff going on right now and with my final year of school this year, its a little difficult.**

 **4\. Stuff thats happened with me:  
\- I started year 12 (8 MONTHS TO GO)  
** ** **-** I moved house**  
 ** **\- I quit my job**  
** ** **\- I'm picking up volleyball again this year (HAIKYUU HYPE IS REAL)  
**** **\- My brother got out of hospital! (Wear helmets kids. Ride safe)  
** **\- And I'm halfway through the next chapter**

 **5\. I know guys, this chapter was kinda gory at the end. I'm really sorry if some of you didn't like that, but its what I wrote. Please don't give me any hate about it.**

 **SOOOOOO as I always say, please leave a comment about your thoughts on the story so far. I really enjoy reading them and they mean a lot to me. Also gives me boosts to write faster. More reviews, the faster I go :P xx**


	12. Chapter 12 - Fugitives

**Recap:**

 _"I am so sorry. I'm a monster" he said, looking up at me, tears rolling down his face. His hands that he held out in front of me were missing pieces of flesh. Burns scattered here and there all over his hands. What disturbed me most though, was that his hands were cake and covered in blood all the way up to his elbow. My stomach churned when I soon realised what that crumpled mess behind Natsu was, and what the charred 'furniture' behind me was._

 _'He killed them all….'_

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

The first things that ran through my mind were running, sheltering and screaming. I looked up to see Natsu looking at me with solemn eyes. His face was smeared with dust and bruised in various places. The house fire was burning around us and crackled loudly as bits of wood had begun to split in the heat. As smoke begun to fill up the room, the smell of burnt flesh and wood began assaulting my nose. Natsu made a slight whimpering sound in front of me. He was clutching his hands to his body in fear. Instinctively, I grabbed Natsu's hands with mine. Heat from his battle with the guards hadn't subsided yet and burned my flesh, but I didn't flinch.

"It's okay. You were protecting your nakama" I tried to reason. Natsu shook his head. And tried pulling his hands away. I held onto them, sending him a silent message not to remove them.

"No, I wasn't protecting. I was taking revenge. I murdered them without a second thought. I burnt them to a crisp with no remorse" he said, not making eye contact with me.

"They were going to kill us. It was them or us" I explained. I knew this wasn't right to say, but it was all I could say. Natsu looked up and nodded, understanding what I meant.

"I guess when you put it that way, it is true" he mumbled to me. I finally let go of his hands, mine burning from the heat that was radiating off his. The blaze around us was getting out of control very quickly. I stood up and helped Natsu climb to his feet. A beam from the attic above us broke away and came crashing down. We both ducked to safety before it crushed us.

"We need to get out of here!" Natsu yelled over the crackling of the fire. I started coughing violently from the smoke and couldn't respond. Natsu began to lead me through the debris, being my shield against the flames.

"My keys.." I hacked out, trying to speak, but just coughing instead. Natsu continued to lead me out until we reached the street, the only place which wasn't on fire. He pushed me gently over to safety, before rushing back into the burning house. Against the night sky, what was once our little house, burned brightly in front of my eyes. Walls were crumbling, beams were collapsing. I could hear the cracked glass windows shattering from the heat. A fire ball shot out from the entrance of the house and into the front yard before the second story collapsed down. I shielded myself as sparks of embers exploded from the house and out onto the street. The suspected 'fire ball' continued to tumble out of the front yard and into the street. As the figure continued to tumble, the fire around began to dissipate, revealing Natsu with his clothes hanging on by a bare thread. Mine were probably no better.

"Here" he said, getting up from the dirt and passing me my keys in their leather pouch and Fleuve d'étoiles. Both items were unscathed, although the pouch had a small singe mark on the front corner. Natsu had a satuel slung on his shoulder. I had never once seen that bag in the house

"Lucy, come on. We gotta get a move on. More guards will be here soon" He said, beckoning me to follow him. I attached my keys and whip to my hip before following Natsu. We broke out into the sprint. Up ahead, we could hear the yells of many more guards. I grabbed Natsu's hand in quick thinking and dragged him into a small alleyway. He opened his mouth to protest but I clamped a hand over it. I put a finger to my lips, silently telling him to be quiet. Guards rushed past in the direction of our house. When they had all passed, we cautiously stepped back out into the street. Looking back, there was a bright light in the direction from which we had come from. I was pulled out of the moment when Natsu grabbed my hand and began running.

We ran as fast as we could away from our house. Pitch black darkness surrounded us, and with adrenaline pumping through our veins, we didn't know where we were going or what we were going to do. All I knew is that we had to run far away. We finally reached the boundary street between the sections, giving us an option on where we could go. I expected to stop and think about our next plan of action, but Natsu pulled me straight through towards section 2.

"Where are we going?!" I whisper-shouted at Natsu.

"The only place we can be safe" he replied, not turning around to look at me. The streets we ran through seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn't tell in the dark. My bare feet were torn and burnt from our ordeal, yet they still kept going. We ran out into an opening with houses lining the outside of the courtyard. Natsu continued running, pulling me towards a very familiar looking building.

 _'Gran-gran Cass's Hall!'_ I thought to myself in relief. We finally slowed down when we reached the big wooden doors. Natsu let go of my hand and grasped the handles of the doors with both his hands. He tried pulling, but they didn't budge. He tried a little harder, but they didn't budge. He started yanking on them with all his strength, and still, they didn't open.

"It must be locked" I concluded, putting my hands on my hips tiredly. I was so exhausted, I didn't know whether I could run again if the guards turned up.

"Come on, I know another way" Natsu said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the doors. We ran around to the side of the hall, where an overgrown garden surrounded by rusted metal fencing stood. I thought that we had no way through. Natsu just kicked down the fence, which fell over without any resistance. We shuffled through the garden, wild and overgrown bramble bushes scrapping against our arms and legs. Natsu stopped and crouched down to the ground. He started brushing away the dirt and branches from a specific spot. I could hear dogs barking.

"Hurry up! Their coming!" I exclaimed to Natsu. He had a large stone tile which he had uncovered and was now struggling to move. I turned around and started fishing through my leather pouch, looking for two keys.

"Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" I chanted, holding Aquarius key into a puddle.

"Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" I chanted again, holding the other key in my hand, at the earth. Two resounding door bells were heard before the celestial spirits appeared.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO TELL YO-"

"Hello Princess. May I ask what you are wearing?" Virgo greeted me in her monotone voice, cutting off Aquarius's rant. It had seemed that I had just woken Aquarius up from her sleep. Aquarius closed her mouth and looked at me, disgusted and intrigued. Virgo did the same, minus the disgusted look. It had only just occurred to me that the guards who assaulted me had slashed my dress at my waist. Meaning I had no bottom half of my clothing. I went bright red for a few moments before returning back to normal.

"That's not the point right now. Virgo, help Natsu get underground. Aquarius, I need you to flood the courtyard" I ordered quickly. Aquarius looked away from me, huffing.

"I'd rather have a new master"

"You will in a few minutes because I'll be dead if you don't flood that courtyard" I snapped back. Worry flickered in Aquarius's eyes before she returned to normal self. From the puddle I had summoned her from, she lifted her vase, before spinning around and unleashing a torrent of muddy water into the courtyard, effectively flooding the area.

"Princess!" Virgo called out to me. I turned to see Natsu and Virgo had removed the tile to reveal an opening to a passage. Virgo popped out of existence, going back to the spirit world.

"I swear, if you die, I won't forgive you" I heard Aquarius hiss from over my shoulder before I felt her disappear. I jumped down the hole Natsu had found and landed in what seemed to be a tunnel. Natsu followed suit before moving the brick over and sealing the entrance. He lit his hand on fire, providing us light.

"How did you know about that entrance?" I questioned as we ventured through the straight tunnel.

"Gramps showed it to me when I was a kid. I figured if this guild hall was like the original Fairy Tail guild hall, it would have this passage. Its included in all the original buildings" he explained.

"But why show you?" I asked, curious as to what a 10 year old would do with that information.

"He told all the kids that if one day the guild were to be attack, escape through this tunnel" Natsu explained. It was grim, but I understood that back when we were younger, assassin and mercenary guilds were notorious for attacking the legal guilds.

"Come to think of it, why did you tell Aquarius to flood the courtyard?" He asked as we reached a set of ascending stairs.

"Because I could hear dogs. They would have picked up our scent if I hadn't gotten Aquarius to drench the area. The trail will go cold now" I explained just as we reached a wooden flap in the ceiling. Natsu stood back whilst I pushed up against the flap. At first there was no budge, so I ended up ramming it with my shoulder. The wood, over the years, had been water damaged and had expanded, making it almost impossible to open. After ramming at it several times with my shoulder, the flap burst open, revealing a boarded over bar. I stumbled uneasily from the constant exertion over the past few hours.

"I figured we would end up here" Natsu said to himself aloud. Where we were looked like back area of the bar from Fairy Tail. However, the entire front of the bar was boarded up, making it seem as though the bar never existed. Natsu walked ahead in front of me to look at the door on the side of the wooden makeshift wall. My vision blurred for a bit and Natsu suddenly had a doppelganger.

"Luce, are you coming?" the Natsu's asked, turning around to talk to me. Both of their expressions changed. Little fuzzy stars began floating into my vision as the room swayed from side to side. The room started falling around me and I reached out for something, but had no strength left too. The Natsu's ran out towards me and formed back into one Natsu as he caught me.

"It's not too far now. Just stay with me a little longer" he told me in a clear and calm voice. I tried nodding but it only came as a slight wobble. My muscles were turning to jelly and I barely had the strength to keep my eyes open. Darkness was clouding up my vision when I heard the door open.

" _How on earth did you two get in here?!_ "

* * *

 **ERZA POV**

We had all set out from the guild as soon as Master had released us from the meeting. Everyone went home, packed their things, and met at the train station in record timing. I never thought things like this were possible. Yes, I had heard of missions gone wrong in other guilds, but I never thought it would happen to us. Wendy, Carla, Juvia, Gray, Happy, Lilly and Gajeel all stood on the platform with grim expressions on their faces. It was not a look I liked seeing. The line I was waiting in for tickets moved along, moving me up to the front.

"Good evening young lady, how may I help you?" the ticket vendor asked from behind the glass.

"8 tickets to Delfieor, please" I asked. The ticket vendor gave me an interesting look.

"What business do you have with that area?" he asked, curiously.

"Guild matters" I replied, quite curtly.

"That's funny. I sent two kids, about your age, off that way a few weeks ago. You involved with them?" the ticket vendor asked, getting a little too nosey for my liking.

"That's confidential information, sir" I explained, just wanting to get my tickets and leave for the town. The ticket vendor nodded in understanding.

"Sorry, my bad. So 8 tickets to Delfieor? I'm sorry but that train goes as far as Rythor. You'll have to walk from there to your destination" he explained sincerely. I nodded and handed him a small sack of jewel.

"That's completely fine. I would like to take next departing train too, please" I asked. The ticket vendor was about to put the jewel in the cash register and hand me the tickets when another train official leant over and whispered something in his ear. His expression went from curiosity, to surprise, and then to worry when he looked at me. He pushed the jewel sack back across the counter towards me.

"Is this not enough jewel? I can pay more" I quickly reasoned. The ticket vendor shook his head.

"It's not the money. I've just received word that the trains running towards Rythor have all been disrupted due to bandits. The trains will be running again in 3 days if you would like to wait" the ticket vendor explained, trying to make it better.

"No! We need to get to that town as soon as possible. What's the fastest transport there?" I demanded, slamming a fist against the counter. The vendor looked frightened in my sudden change of mood.

"Uh, there's a wagon rental place just outside the station. It's a 2 days ride" the ticket vendor squeaked uneasily. I thanked him for his help and walked back over towards the group.

"So when are we boarding?" Wendy asked. I shook my head.

"We're not"

"What?! You didn't buy and tickets?!" Gajeel exclaimed. I put a hand up to silence him.

"All the trains heading the direction of Delfieor have been cancelled for the next 3 days. Our best chance of getting there is by wagon" I explained.

"And how long is that gonna take?" asked Gray.

"About 2 days" I answered.

"Well let's get moving then" Gray replied, grabbing his bags and walking towards the exit for the train station. The rest of the team grabbed their belongings and followed suit. I really hoped we were going get there in time.

* * *

 **NATSU POV**

Light shone through my barely open eyes, waking me up. I groaned and tried rolling over to escape the flickering candlelight. The sheets that were on my bed tightened and constricted my movement. I groaned and opened my eyes very reluctantly. The room we were in was a lot bigger than any normal room inside the guild hall. In this room was a small table with two chairs, two single beds, and a small bedside table between the two. I shuffled around in my bed again, trying to free my arms from the boa constrictor sheets. Eventually, I managed to pull out both my arms and rest them on top of the sheets. My arms and hands were both covered in bandages from last night. I only dreaded to see what the rest of my body was like.

I looked around to see another bed to mine where Lucy was sleeping. She too was covered in bandages. I was really glad we got here when we did, I don't think she could have ran any more than what she did. I was broken out of my thought when there was a knock at the door. Gran-gran Cass walked into the room holding a tray with today's breakfast laid out on it.

"Good morning Helios. It's good to see your awake" she said cheerfully and smiling. I smiled back

"Good mornin' to you to" I replied groggily. Gran-gran Cass came over and started looking over my bandages.

"Has any of the bandaging unwrapped or any of the patches come off?" she asked as she continued to inspect me. I shook my head.

"I haven't seen or felt anything" I replied back. After doing a once over, Gran-gran Cass stepped back and began preparing the meals to take over to me and Lucy.

"Hey thankyou last night for taking us in" I said, trying to think of something to say in this awkward silence. Gran-gran Cass chuckled and continued on with her work.

"Oh it's nothing! I'm sure anyone would save those who were in need of hiding. Besides, it's in the doctors' code to provide help for anyone in need, regardless of the situation" she replied cheerfully. Gran-gran Cass turned around with two bowls of musili in her hands.

"Here you go. Eat up. You'll need your strength" Gran-gran Cass instructed as she passed me the bowl. I watched Gran-gran place Lucy's bowl on a little stool next to her bed.

"I'll be back in half an hour to check up on you both again and to collect your bowls" she said with a cheerful smile before closing the door behind her. Propping myself up a little further on my bed made me groan in agony at the soreness of my muscles and bones. I slowly shuffled myself to get comfortable, only to discover that getting comfortable in this bed was impossible. Satisfied with finding a slightly less uncomfortable position, I began digging into my breakfast. Yeah, the musili was very dry and very bland, but what else would you expect from a poor and undersupplied village enslaved by a crazy death cult. Despite the dry texture, Gran-gran Cass's musili was super filling.

Halfway through my bowl, Lucy began moving around in her bed, signalling she was waking up. A few groans and quiet yawn confirmed that theory.

"Good mornin' sleepy" I called out to her as she tried to snuggle back down into the, what I could assume was, coarse and scratchy bedsheets. She groaned loudly.

"Shurdup Nntsu" she grumbled into her pillow. I smiled and continued to eat my musili. She had me worried last night after she passed out in the guild hall. I don't blame her though. After everything that we went through, I too was having trouble keeping up. A really low nutritious diet with barely anything to eat, mixed with a high energy activity, or in our case, a life or death situation, would more than likely make anyone feel like they needed to pass out. She turned over to face me. One side of her face was grazed from the house fire with small band aids covering the worse of the scrape. A dark purple bruise spanned over the side of her nose and onto her cheek from where the guard punched her. I didn't even want to think how the rest of her body was.

"Where are we?" she mumbled in her half-asleep groggy state.

"Gran-gran Cass's" I replied in between chewing and putting another spoon full of musili into my mouth. Lucy looked at me confused for a few seconds.

"I don't remember coming here…" she trailed off, trying to think back to last night. I swallowed my mouthful too quickly and almost choked.

"You passed out – _cough_ – when we – _cough_ – got – _cough_ – inside" I explained, in between hacking coughs and trying to beat my chest to alleviate whatever was caught in my wind pipe. Lucy tried to wriggle so she could prop herself up behind her pillow. Instead, the action was followed by a lot of hissing and a long string of profanities.

"Trust me, I know how you feel" I sympathised with her, finally removing the blockage in my throat. She pointed to my bowl with a questioning look.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Breakfast. Its musili. Yours is on the table" I replied, pointing to her little bedside table. Lucy eagerly grabbed the bowl and immediately piled a huge amount into her mouth.

"Also, it's very bland" I humourly commented at the reaction of her face. The musili had dried up all the moisture in her mouth (like it did for me) and she was now trying (and failing) to chew. I laughed at her expression before clutching my stomach in pain. Lucy shot me a glare of satisfaction at my misfortune. Things were a little quiet after that. Lucy continued to eat her musili and I looked over all the injuries that I could see, without moving and causing myself any pain. Just as Lucy finished her bowl of musili, Gran-gran Cass came through the door with her trolley of medical goods.

"Oh good morning Ruby! I'm glad to see your awake" Gran-gran Cass cheerfully exclaimed as she entered the room. It was like the room was suddenly 100x happier and brighter.

"Yeah, I guess I would be glad too if I could just get rid of the throbbing head ache I have" Lucy groaned, rubbing her head gently. Gran-gran Cass, as quick as lighting, rustled through her trolley and pulled out a few powders and leaves. Taking the steel jug off the trolley and producing a small tin cup, she brewed Lucy a drink.

"Here, drink this sweetie. That should take the sting out of it" she said, handing Lucy an orange coloured tea. Lucy took a sip and immediately her eyes widened.

"Holy crap, what the hell is in this?!" Lucy cried out in surprise. Gran-gran Cass chuckled a little.

"Just Mojana roots and Lituris leaves" she replied ( **A/N: Mojana is a root in the Fairy Tail Universe. It's a little like turmeric and is grounded up into a powder to use in medicines and cooking. Lituris is like a sweet citrus berry which grows all over Fiore. Both of these plants are super common around Fiore)**

"Is it good?" I asked, a little curious about Lucy's surprise.

"It's amazing! My headache is basically gone and it hasn't even been 30 seconds!" she cried out in excitement.

"That's the power of natural medicines. We must use all we have around us here" Gran-gran Cass explained from behind her trolley as she pulled out some oil, leaves and a small pouch of powder.

"What's that going to be?" I asked as she began grounding up the leaves and mixing the oil with the powder.

"An antiseptic and anti-inflammatory cream" Gran-gran Cass replied, adding the grounded up leaves to the grey looking paste. Lucy's tin clinked back onto the wooden table, signalising she had finished her tea. Finishing her mixture, Gran-gran Cass walked over to me with a little wooden plate in her hand with the grey cream.

"Alright young man, sit on the side of the bed please" she instructed me. I threw the sheets off my legs to reveal even more bandaging. I had been given a new pair of boxer shorts as my other ones were hanging together by pieces of thread. I swung my legs over and yelped out in pain at the unwanted movement of my muscles. Slowly standing up, I shuffled down the bed and jumped back up to sit on the edge. Gran-gran Cass took my right hand and began unwrapping. Underneath was my charred and scabbed hand, healing quite quickly now. The burns came up to just before my elbow. Gran-gran applied the cream to my entire right arm before bandaging it up and moving onto my left hand, which had the exact same injuries as my right. She treated the wounds on my shoulders, chest and torso, back, face and legs. I swore multiple times when Gran-gran Cass was cleaning my back. Apparently when the door exploded, wooden shards imbedded themselves into my back.

"Now remember kids, you need to both start getting up and moving. Being bedridden isn't going to sort out your injuries" Gran-gran Cass lectured us both. We nodded while Gran-gran Cass finished bandaging up my back. After me, Gran-gran Cass moved onto Lucy. She had grazes on her face, legs, arms, hands, and stomach. Her hands were burnt from the flames in the house and a long slice trailed over her stomach from where the guards slashed her dress. Just as Gran-gran Cass had finished with her and Lucy was putting her shirt over her bandages, a little bell dingled from out in the hallway.

"Oh I'll be right back!" Gran-gran Cass chirped as she swiftly walked out the door. I threw the sheets back off my bed and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I reached up and stretched out the muscles in my arms, groaning at the stiffness.

"Don't try and over exert yourself" Lucy warned me in a motherly tone. I shrugged off her warning and continued to stretch.

"I know exactly what my body can handle" I confidently replied, pushing myself off the bed. Pains and aches shot up my legs, making me yell and swear in pain. I could only imagine the look Lucy would have plastered on her face right now. Using the bed as a support, I crawled my way to the end of the bed where a pair of crutches were resting. I grabbed one (because who the hell needs two) just to support me when I walked. I hobbled over to the small table where a cooper plate laid. The metal on the plate was originally polished, but now had rough patches in the mirror like surface. I held it up as a mirror to check my appearance. My hair was still blonde, although some of the edges of it were slightly singed. Bits of hair stuck out all over the place and my hair was getting slightly longer. Using my hands as a straightener, I fixed out all the kinks in my hair and styled it into my normal spiked look, except with slightly longer hair. The door to our room creaked open, announcing the arrival of someone.

"I believe there is someone here to see you" Gran-gran Cass said cheerfully. As though on cue, a small blur of brown hair come hurling into the room.

"Ruby! Helios!" Dee cried out running towards me. She thankfully slowed down, noticing my injuries, and gently hugged my waist before going over to Lucy.

"What happened? I went to your house this morning and it was all burnt down. There were guards everywhere!" Dee exclaimed, jumping onto the end of Lucy's, quite confused about what happened.

"Well, uh, we got attacked by some guards" Lucy started. Dee turned her head slightly in confusion.

"It was a raid" I explained simply. Dee's eyes widened and she look at Lucy worriedly.

"Are you alright?!" she asked, almost shouting the question. Lucy nodded.

"I'm okay. Thankfully, I had Helios there" Lucy explained, nodding over towards me. Dee turned to look at me in awe.

"You beat up the guards?!" Dee exclaimed in pure excitement. A flashback of the burned and charred bodies flickered from my memory. I shuddered and pushed them back to where they came from.

"I don't want to talk about it" I said plainly. Lucy looked worried while Dee looked slightly taken back, knowing that she might of hit a nerve. Dee shrugged it off and continued a detail recount of what happened this morning when she went to our house. I kinda tuned out a little, focusing more on the perfect bandaging of my right hand than on what Dee was talking about. She was getting up to the part about coming here when Gran-gran Cass burst through the door, looking worried and frantic.

"You three, quickly, into the courtyard" Gran-gran Cass explained, in between gasping breaths. She passed us both course cloaks to put on. They were the Delfiorian equivalent of rain coats. Dee and Gran-gran Cass helped support Lucy out of bed and gave her a crutch for walking support. I managed to walk to the door without mine, and from there onwards, walking became easier and easier step by step. We walked down stairs to the ground floor and walked out of the big wooden double doors. Rain poured down, making large puddles on the uneven cobblestone floor. Hundreds of people packed the small courtyard. It seemed all the people from section 2 had gathered together into the courtyard. Guards lined the outside of the courtyard, almost like a barrier against people escaping. Further up, a makeshift wooden podium had been built which guards were now standing on. A man in a dark red coat stood up to the podium.

"Due to an incident last night, four guards have been murdered," the man began. People began to gasp in shock and whispers were being exchanged between citizens.

"The culprits, Ruby Seren and Helios Seren, were last tracked to this area when they escaped last night. If anyone has any information, contact the local guards. Withholding details will have severe punishment" the red coat man said. Many more whispers were being exchanged among the throng of people. Lucy and I lowered our hoods slightly and closed the opening of our cloaks shut, to hide our injuries.

"Following that, population numbers are climbing" the man explained. People began muttering worriedly. From the corner of my vision I could see Dee sheltering behind Gran-gran Cass, as though she was trying hiding from something.

"All cuffed citizens will be brought forward for regulation" the man announced. The whispers and mutters became screams and shouts. People began turning to run out of the courtyard, only to be stopped by the wall of guards who prevented citizens leaving. I turned to Dee frantically and then to Gran-gran Cass, who was trying to hide Dee in her cloak. I only then occurred to me that Dee was one of the few citizens with cuffs on her wrists and ankles.

"What's happening?!" I yelled over the screaming and crying.

"Regulation means culling. They are going to cull the cuffed" Gran-gran Cass explained. Dee looked as though she was about to cry, completely petrified about everything going on around her. Guards were sifting through the crowd, seizing anyone with steel cuffs on their wrists or ankles.

"Show me your wrists!" a guard barked at us. Lucy, Gran-gran and I all held out our wrists. Dee stumbled behind Gran-gran Cass hiding her wrists, trying to disappear.

"You! Girl! Show me your wrists!" the guard ordered. Dee stumbled back, trying to get away, but tripped on the uneven cobblestone bricks. She tripped backwards, revealing the cuffs on her wrists and ankles as she landed. Panicked, Dee sprinted off through the surging mass of frightened people.

"Don't let her get away!" the guard roared as Dee weaved her way in and out of the people. Rain was pelting down, adding to the frantic atmosphere of the small courtyard. Up the front where the podium was, a caged cart was being loaded with cuffed citizens. Young and old were being thrown in, but there were many more younger citizens than older ones.

"Run Dee!" Lucy yelled as we could only watch as Dee ran from the guards. Slipping on the wet ground, Dee tripped and went skidding across the ground. Her knees and elbows were skinned red raw and were beginning to bleed. Her mouth opened in a silent cry of pain. I tried to run over to get her, but my injuries hindered my speed greatly. A guard now had her by her legs and was holding her upside down over his shoulder.

"DEE!" I screamed out as she was carried away through the people.

"HELIOS!" was all I heard as she disappeared through the crowd. I fell to my knees and held my head, screaming up to the sky in rage and despair. Anger burned through my veins, igniting a fire inside my body. The flame burned fiercely in my stomach, urging me to succumb to rage and frustration to unleash my fire. I could hear Lucy behind me sobbing into Gran-gran Cass's shoulder. The screaming began to dimish as the guards dissipated, the crowds scrambled away in fear, and the caged cart was wheeled away, carrying citizens to be culled. Wiping the rain and tears from my face, I stood up and stormed over to Gran-gran Cass.

"Who knows the most about where this 'culling' bullshit happens?" I demanded. Lucy looked up from Gran-gran Cass's shoulder in fear, but then realised what was going through my head, and looked slightly worried. Gran-gran Cass looked terrified at my change in attitude and the ferocity of my actions.

"The revolt society! The DAV committee!" Gran-gran Cass quickly replied, panicking and unsure how to answer my question without firing me up even more.

"What the hell is a DAV?! I just wanna know where those bastards are taking Dee" I growled, frustrated.

"Delfiorian Anti-Vichari committee. They know the most about the underground networks and where prisoners are kept" Gran-gran Cass explained calmly. I grabbed her shoulders roughly in anger. Lucy quickly pushed me back to stop me from hurting the old woman.

"What the fuck, Helios?!" she yelled at me. I looked at her in shock, then confusion, and then anger. "I know you're just as angry as I am about Dee, but control your emotions! You're gonna hurt someone!"

"The only people going to get hurt are those fucking guards who took Dee. I am going to make them pay for what they did you, to Dee, to everyone else in this godforsaken taken town. I swear to god Lucy, they are all going to burn" I growled in a low voice. Heat was rolling off me in waves at this point. Gran-gran Cass was looking at me with a mix or curiosity and fear. 1, because I had just called Lucy by her real name instead of her alias, and 2, at the heat that was rolling off me.

"We will both get revenge, but right now, we need to get information" Lucy calmly reasoned. I clenched my teeth and nodded, knowing that I couldn't fight her. Lucy turned back to Gran-gran Cass where she stood quite shocked at what just happened.

"Who would be our best bet at finding where Dee is being kept?" Lucy asked her, trying to keep the situation under control.

"The DAV ex-information archive manager" Gran-gran Cass replied, obviously feeling more comfortable with Lucy than angry and pissed off me.

"Where would we find him?" Lucy asked again. At least we were getting somewhere now.

"Coincidently, he is actually Dee's father" Gran-gran Cass said, realising that we now had to tell him that his daughter was potentially going to die.

"Can you give us his address? We'll find him" Lucy explained. We still at least had some hope at saving little Dee

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

We were both given next sets of clothing and our wounds redressed before heading off to the address of Dee's house. Natsu had been holding in his frustration for a while now and it had gotten to a point where even the smallest thing just pissed him off. With most of our bandages removed to lessen suspicion and getting slightly cleaned up, Natsu and I left the guild hall and followed the complex instructions through to house in line BH. The houses looked exactly the same here, making me think that we were still in section 3. We reached block BH, which looked like every other house, and knocked on the door. Footsteps neared before the door opened, revealing a young man in his late-twenties.

"Hi, can I help you?" he asked cheerfully. Something about this guy seemed a little familiar. I snapped out of my daydream and smiled.

"Uh we were told by Gran-gran Cass to find you because you had the most knowledge about secret stuff" I explained, trying not to give off too much. The man's eyes widened, realising what we were saying.

"Yes! Yes! Come in, come in" he said, ushering us inside of the wooden house. The interior was exactly like ours, yet it had two more chairs.

"Please, have a seat" the man beckoned, motioning over towards the wooden block-couch-thing. We both sat down, examining the house. I still couldn't put my finger on it. This man had never been out of this town and yet he reminded me so much of someone, but I could not for the life of me, remember it. I snapped out when a hand reached out to me.

"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Matthew. Matthew Adna"

* * *

 **A/N: HELLO EVERYONE, WELCOME BACK. I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE VOID.**

 **I was ment to post this chapter like eons ago but I had a serious bad case of the Writeis-Blockitis. Plus ontop of that, school has been anally raping me since I started back. I am so glad I am graduating this year. For anyone currently going through year 11 (or equivelent because I'm in the aussie system), it is going to get worse. But trust me fam, it gets better.**

 **So I quit my waitressing job (was total shit btw) and now I work at maccas! (McDonalds for all you non-australians) Downside is, all my nights are taken up by work and when I do get home, I'm usually trying to pull an all nighter to finish an assignment that was due the previous day.**

 **Enough fiff-faff from me, I wanna know how you guys liked the story. Loved it or hated it? Yah or Nah? Could be better, could be worse? You decide my amigos. Let me know what you guys think in the comments (I also love reading them so plz, you inspire me to write trashy stories) or even just favourite this story.**

 **Peace out xxx  
(will try to not let update times get out of hand again. Forgive me for I have fucked up)  
**

 **-Nic**


	13. Author Update

**HEY EVERYONE! IT IS I!**

Just clarifying I'm not dead and that I am still alive, (slightly) healthy, and kicking. I know people have been sending me messages asking where I was and whether ARTR was going to be updated soon. To answer everyones question to that, no, ARTR will not be updated soon. However that does not mean that the story will end. I have put too much time and planning into this for it to end here so I'm gonna make sure you guys get to read it till the end. ARTR will continue and I will make a mega-mega-ultra long chapter to make up for the time lost (because the last chapter was on a bit of a cliff hanger #sorryguys #sorrydee)

Okay so just a little author update on whats been going on with me personally. About a few weeks after I posted the last chapter, I got really sick with a chest infection. It then kind of snowballed out of control and the next thing I know, I'm in hospital with a partially collapsed lung and pneumonia. Needless to say, it wasnt exactly the most enjoyable of experiences. And then they put me on medication which I discovered I'm allergic to and that really messed me up for a while. So I kind of missed out on a lot of school and was stuck playing the catch up game, and if it was any other year, I would just ditch the work, BUT I LEGIT HAVE 2 MONTHS LEFT OF SCHOOL. I DON'T WANT TO BE AN ADULT. I'M NOT READY FOR RESPONSIBILTIES AND TAXES.

So yeah, most of the last few months have been taken up by me being sick, getting better, dying from medication and trying to do well in my last few months of school. Oh and I forgot one tiny detail:

 **i fell into kpop**

It was an honest mistake, I swear. I thought it was gonna be something I could listen to in my spare time because music on the itunes charts always sound the same and usually consist of the same artists. Oh how I was so wrong with that idea. I have made a very bad tactical error and there is no hope for me going back. I'm in too deep. And I honestly thought my anime obsession was bad. I can confirm though that I have found where all the real life anime boys are.

I'm starting to get off topic now. So I guess I just want to thank everyone so far for reading and reviewing ARTR. You all have been awesome sticking through this with me because I am honestly the worst updater. To those of you who are gonna wait around for the next chapter, you are all pretty neato for giving me hope to keep writing and sticking out this mega long hiatus. And to those who a little impatient about waiting (I am super impatient), thankyou for sticking around until now. I will try to update soonish (a month or two) so you don't die of waiting.

Thankyou all for your support and I will update in the near future (keep a look out because I will drop that chapter like AgustD dropped that mixtape on everyone with no warning and the whole world caught fire #theinfiresnationhasrisen)

xxxxx - nicolalouise104

(p.s. If any of ya'll are kpop listeners, do you feel like slipping me some names of some good songs? I guess I'm still easing myself into the void. Also kpop fans are almost as hard to find as anime fans in australia. It's honestly ridiculous)


	14. Chapter 13 - The Underground Escape

**NATSU POV**

"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Matthew. Matthew Adna" the young man said, holding out his hand for Lucy, and then me to shake. It was really weird. I'd never met him before but he smelt somewhat familiar to someone else. And trust me, no person has the exact same smell as another.

"I'm Ruby" Lucy replied, sending a friendly smile and shaking his hand.

"Helios" I said, shaking his hand as well and sending him a dignified nod. Matthew sat down across the table from us. His brown hair was long, but not too long. The longest bits were tied up using a scrap piece of cotton ( **Imagine Yato's hair from Noragami, except brown** ). Chocolate brown orbs scanned us, trying to find out more about us.

"So what brings you two here?" Matthew cheerfully asked, clasping his hands together.

"We were told you had some information about the underground tunnels" I replied. Matthews's expression drastically changed from cheerful to dead serious.

"That's some dangerous information you're asking for there" he said in a low voice, lowering his gaze too. I suddenly did not like the way he was talking to Lucy.

"And this is a dangerous mission. We can handle it" she retorted back, unfazed by his change in personality. Matthew and I both looked slightly taken aback in her badass-ness. In defeat, Matthew slumped back against the wooden couch.

"I was manager of information for the Delfiorian Anti-Vichama Committee for a number of years before it was shut down due to members being executed. I know everything you need" Matthew explained, tapping the top of his head.

"The underground tunnels. Tell us what you know about them" Lucy asked, being slightly blunt about it. Then again, we were on a bit of a tight time schedule.

"The infamous tunnel network that runs under the city. Houses everything from weapons, food, vehicles, lacrimas, prisoners. You name it and it's down there somewhere" Matthew said, counting off the items on his fingers.

"How big do you reckon the system is?" I asked, finally joining into the conversation. Matthew shrugged.

"Who knows? Could be half the town, could be the whole town. Hell, it could even expand out further than the town" he said, making arm gestures to give an example of how big it was.

"How does one enter the tunnels?" Lucy asked.

"There are multiple sewer drain holes around the town. Most of them are bolted up, but there a few that are loose to the point you can lift them. Nearest one from here is directly behind the guild hall. From there, someone would climb through the drains to the main drain, where the tunnels and the drains connect" Matthew explained. Lucy nodded, taking in everything he was saying.

"And what about getting to the prison cells?" Lucy asked. Matthew looked at her, confused and curious.

"They're east of the main drain. All of them are categorised by section and then by age group" Matthew said. Lucy retrieved an old square of cotton and a piece of charcoal from the satchel I was wearing, which confused me as I never put those things in that satchel to begin with. She laid them out on the table and grabbed the charcoal to start writing.

"Tell me the directions to the prison cells and I'll write them down" Lucy said, knowing full well that almost all the Delfiorian citizens couldn't read write or spell. Matthew grabbed the piece of charcoal out of Lucy's hand.

"Ah its fine, I can do it myself" he explained before writing onto the cloth. Lucy and I watched in bewilderment as Matthew wrote and spelt like no other Delfiorian could. Yeah his handwriting was a little messy, but he had obviously been taught to read, write and spell like any other normal kid. 5 minutes passed before he placed the charcoal onto the table and neatly folded up the detailed map he had drawn for us.

"There, all done. I've written down the directions to the prison cells from Gran-gran Cass's drain opening. Don't know which specific section you're going to but you'll find it" Matthew explained, passing the map over to Lucy so she could put it in the satchel.

"Oh no need, we're heading for the section 2 prison cells" Lucy said slightly absentmindedly. Matthew looked curious and then confused.

"May I ask exactly what this mission is you're going on?" Matthew asked, with the slightest hint of worry in his voice. It was at this moment I remember Gran-gran Cass telling us that this man was also Dee's father.

"There was an incident this morning at the courtyard," Lucy began. I could see Matthew fretting slightly and becoming more and more nervous by the second.

"We're also friends of your daughter, Dee" I piped in, just to fill in some grey areas which were about to appear. Matthew looked slightly relieved knowing that his daughter knew us.

"There was an increase in the population, and to fix it, they had to regulate the citizens, more specifically though, the cuffed citizens" Lucy finished off. Matthews face went pale and he looked terrified.

"My- My- Dee?" he stumbled. We both hung our heads low.

"The guards took her before we could protect her" Lucy said solemnly. Matthews's world looked like it had just shattered. He grasped at his face and his mouth hung open in a silent scream, tears rolling down his face. He then covered his mouth and shook his head.

"No, no. This can't be happening. My baby girl Dee" he wailed, his heartbreaking before our eyes. I stood up and slammed my arms on the table, grabbing his attention.

"I swear Matthew, we are going to bring your daughter back in one piece. I am going to burn every last guard that hurt her" I growled. Matthew looked up at me and nodded before looking back to Lucy.

"Thank you. I think- I think I need some time alone" he said, wiping his eyes before placing them back in his hands. We both nodded and left the house in silence, mumbling 'Thankyou's' as we walked past him. We now had a plan, and we now had a map. Now all we needed to do was wait for a time when no one was around to see us disappear. That time would be midnight, tonight.

* * *

 **WENDY POV**

After driving non-stop from Magnolia to Rythor in our magic-mobile, we arrived in the little woodland town in less than a day. Although the trip would have originally taken 2 days, Gray, Erza, Juvia and Gajeel tag teamed on using up their power, meaning they could go full speed and then swap out when their magic levels had depleted. It was late afternoon when we arrived with the sun tinting the town in a yellow-orange light. Rythor reminded me of a mini Magnolia except with lots of markets.

We were unable to meet with the mayor of Rythor as he was on business in a neighbouring town, but his secretary was going to inform him of our arrival. We then decided to head out and ask the locals if they had seen Lucy or Natsu. The main street was packed with stalls selling all types of food, clothing, and miscellaneous items. Many of the stall owners were currently packing all their goods away for the day. Erza was constantly going up to people asking questions about Natsu and Lucy, more or less terrifying them into being silent. After about half an hour of this, Erza slumped down on a crate next to one of the stalls.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Erza was slumped over and resting her arms on her knees.

"I'm so exhausted. Just give me a minute, I'll be alright" Erza replied in breathy gasps. The street we were currently in was packed with many market stalls selling household items and furniture. The stall Erza was resting at was a carpentry stall standing on the doorstep of someone's house

"You shouldn't push yourself. I think we could all do with some rest" Gray said. His eyes had dark rings under them, signalling magic energy depletion. Looking around, Juvia and Gajeel had them too. No doubt Erza would have them as well.

"No. We have to keep going" Erza demanded in her authoritive voice, still breathing heavy from exhaustion.

"I agree with Gray, I think we should rest up and then ask questions" Juvia chimed in. Gajeel and I nodded in agreeance. People were still slowly packing away items. The barely audible noise of a door opened up behind the stall.

"No! We have to continue on. We have to save our comrades, and we have to find a way to Delfieor" Erza exclaimed, glaring at all of us with determined eyes. She too had dark rings underneath her eyes.

"What business do you have with that cursed town?" an old voice from behind us questioned. We turned around to see an old woman with a disgusted look on her face.

"That would be confidential business" Erza replied in a calm and collected tone. The old lady looked surprised and nodded.

"Oh yes, forgive me for intruding" she said bowing in apology to us.

"You must be travellers, yes?" the old woman asked, standing upright again. We nodded in confirmation.

"You called the town 'cursed'. Why is it cursed?" I asked the old woman. She looked at us, looked around the street, and then put her finger to her lips.

"We shouldn't talk about it here. Follow me" she said in a hushed voice before directing us towards a door marked 'PRIVATE' behind the stall. Inside was what looked to be a lounge room. Two rose pink sofas sat in the centre of the room, surrounding a small wooden coffee table. A china cabinet and a bookcase lined the wall behind one of the sofas and the wall against the stairs.

"Please, take a seat" the old woman said, smiling and motioning to the sofas. Erza, Gray and Juvia all squished together on one, while Gajeel and I took the other (Gajeel taking up a majority of the seat). Carla sat on my lap while Happy and Lilly sat on Juvia and Erza's laps. The old woman quickly rushed out of another door and reappeared a few minutes later with cups of tea and a plate of biscuits and muffins, which we all hungrily dug into.

"Oh before I forget, let me introduce myself. My name is Aimee" the old woman said, sitting down in a matching rose pink armchair with a cup of tea. We all went around the room introducing ourselves, with Aimee being particularly surprised about 3 talking cats but eventually got over the shock.

"So can you tell us why Delfieor is cursed?" Juvia asked. Aimee shuddered at the name.

"First of, please refrain from using that name. It is bad luck to even utter that word" Aimee began. Everyone nodded in agreeance.

"That town is cursed because anyone who goes there, never comes back" she continued. I felt some of my hope for Lucy and Natsu's survival disappear slightly.

"Why is that? What happened there to make that town cursed?" Erza asked in her no-nonsense tone.

"That town was invaded, by what at first seemed like bandits, around 30 years ago. Before that, the town was a massive tourist attraction and also a major supplier of coal, iron and some rare metals and gem stones. The town was famous for its 'magical woodlands', or so they called it. All that was magical was the pristine springs and the '4 Oceans' lake" Aimee explained.

"What's a '4 Oceans' lake?" Gajeel gruffly asked.

"A lake close to the town that hold species from all corners of the oceans. Scientists couldn't figure out how it was possible and concluded it as a rare phenomenon" she continued.

"What about those bandits?" Erza prodded, trying to get back on track. Aimee nodded.

"Yes, what at first seemed like bandits, took the town hostage, asking for a hefty sum of money from the surrounding towns. The towns instinctively said 'no' and after a week or so, the towns gave in and paid the ransom. We thought they would leave, but oh were we wrong" Aimee said, shaking her head.

"What happened?" Happy asked from his place on Erza's lap.

"They murdered the town" Aimee replied in a low voice. We already knew Delfieor was captured by a murderous and extremist group, but murdering the whole town? Everyone around the table took a short intake of breath.

"A population of 5000 was reduced to 2000 in a few hours. The surrounding towns all heard the screams" Aimee explained, shuddering as she thought back to the time.

"Why only 2000 people though?" Gray inquired.

"We thought that too. Maybe they only needed 2000 people? Maybe they killed off the magic user population, which was 3000? Or maybe they just did it for fun, we still don't know 30 years on" she said.

"Have you tried sending someone out there?" Lilly asked from Juvia's lap. Aimee nodded grimly.

"Yes. Every few months, a conscription raffle is held between all 4 of the towns surrounding that town. 2 people under the age of 30 are selected and sent off towards the town in hopes we can get some information" Aimee explained.

"But you would think after 30 years, maybe someone would have returned?" Gajeel concluded. Aimee shook her head.

"A thick fog surrounds the town. Those who enter, never return"

"How many people have been sent towards that town?" Carla asked from down on my lap.

"Over 800. We stopped counting a few years back" Aimee explained. 800 people taken from their families and friends never to come home again. I thought about what I would do in that situation. I pushed that thought away, not wanting to think of stuff like that.

"My s-"Aimee began but was cut off by the stomping footsteps of someone coming from upstairs.

"Aimee, honey, have you seen my reading glasses?" an older male voice called from upstairs.

"No I haven't sorry!" Aimee called back up. The footsteps sounded like they were right above us

"Ah okay! What's with all that racket as well?" the voice called out, coming down the stairs. An old man appeared, maybe in his 60's or 70's, with a white tunic, long brown trousers, sandals, with his silvery-brown hair balding in the middle. He noticed us right away.

"We have company, dear" Aimee smiled happily at, what could all assume was, her husband.

"Hello kids" the old man said, walking over to Aimee, smiling at us. Gray and Gajeel deadpanned slightly. The old man was calling a group predominantly made up of young adults, 'kids'

"Oh how rude of me, this is my husban-"Aimee was cut off again by her husband pointing at me. His eyes flickered over to my right shoulder and looked at me in alarm.

"Young girl! That mark on your arm!" he exclaimed. Everyone jumped at the outburst. I sat terrified. Aimee jumped up to try and calm her husband.

"Please! Don't scare the poor girl!" Aimee said, trying to sit her husband down. He shrugged his wife off and continued to stare and point at me.

"Sir, please, what is the matter?" Erza announced, in her authoritive tone. The man was shaking, still pointing at my arm.

"That mark, it's the Fairy Tail mark" he said shakily.

"We're Fairy tail Wizards" Gray said, pulling back his open coat to reveal his navy blue guild mark on his chest. Erza turned to reveal hers on her right shoulder, while Gajeel just moved slightly to show his. Juvia shifted the material on her high cut dress to reveal her blue one on her right upper thigh. All the exceeds turned around to reveal their guild marks on their backs. Aimee had lucky shifted a chair behind her husband, who fell backwards seeing all the guild marks.

"They had them too…" he trailed off in barely audible voice, staring off into the distance. Erza must have heard because she jumped straight up and slammed her hands onto the table, frightening everyone and breaking the old man out of his trance.

"Who had them?! Tell me!" Erza demanded, almost yelling and almost breaking the coffee table while she was at it. Gray yanked hard on Erza's arm, pulling her back down into the seat.

"Keep your voice down!" Gray snapped, surprising Erza, who lowered her head in embarrassment. Aimee was currently giving her husband some tea to calm him down. After a few minutes of silence, the old man spoke up.

"I apologise for my outburst. My name is Jefforey" the old man announced in a much calmer tone. Aimee sat in the chair next to him, sipping her tea contently.

"I am humbly sorry for my demand and tone and wish that you accept my deepest apology" Erza stated, shocking Aimee and Jefforey at her formality. Everyone just sweat dropped slightly, knowing this as a typical 'Erza thing'.

"Oh, uh, that's alright dear. No need for formalities" Aimee said, a little confused at Erza's actions.

"You mentioned that 'they had them too', who's they?" I asked, curious about what he meant before. Surely he couldn't mean Natsu and Lucy.

"A month ago, two teenagers, just like you guys, passed through this town. They were Fairy Tail wizards with the guild marks and all" Jefforey explained.

"Was that those two kids you lent the horses too?" Aimee asked, Jefforey nodded and scratched his head, trying to remember something.

"Yeah… their names wer-"

"Natsu and Lucy" Erza said, cutting Jefforey off and finishing his sentence.

"Yes… They were… And I take it they are your friends?" Jefforey asked, putting the pieces together slowly.

"Yeah, guild mates. We came to come bring them home" replied Gray, who had somehow managed to keep all his clothing on for this conversation.

"You too must travel to that cursed town?" Aimee asked in horror. We all nodded in agreement. Jefforey stood up and began dusting off his pants.

"Well since you guys are friends of Lucy and Natsu's, you guys are friends of mine. I'll help you get there" Jefforey said, walking around chair to get to the back door. Erza had now stood up and was bowing repeatedly at a 50° angle.

"Thank you so much, sir. I cannot express my appreciation for your help" Erza said in her formal voice. Everyone in the room sweat dropped at her actions.

"Please, no need to thank me, just follow me" Jefforey said awkwardly, before beckoning us to follow him through the back room into a stable area. There in the stables stood 5 horses. Jefforey took us along, handing us horse saddle blankets.

"There are two ways to get to the cursed town. One is through the forest or up on the mountain pass. And since you guys need to get there urgently, I suggest you take the mountain path. However, it's only accessible by horse and takes 2-3 days which is the shortest time to get there" He explained. We all nodded, understanding what he meant. One by one, he took us along the stalls introducing us to the horses. We stopped by a stable with a caramel coloured horse with a white star on its forehead. He then motioned for Erza to come forward.

"This is Juniper. Strong and confident, like you" Jefforey explained leaving Erza to her new companion. We continued along to another stall containing a grey horse with black freckles, before Jefforey beckoned Juvia forward.

"This here is Blaze. Reserved and very calm" he explained. At first, Juvia was a little nervous to go near the horse, but soon she was confidently stroking his head. We continued along to another horse, a brown one with white socks. This one wasn't excited like the rest; its ears were flattened and was obviously skittish about something.

"This is Felix. Natsu's horse. He came running back to us 4 days after they left. I can only hope that they were not injured when their horses fled" Jefforey said, looking down in worry and stroking Felix's head. Happy made a distinctive noise at his best friend possibly being hurt.

"I'll ride him" piped up Gray. Jefforey nodded and opened up the stable for Gray and Happy to enter. At first Felix reared and kicked, afraid of the newcomer. But after Gray had let him sniff his hand, and obviously smelling faint traces of Natsu, Felix had calmed down and let Gray saddle him up. We moved along to another horse, this one black as steel. He was more energetic than Felix.

"This is Pablo. I only bought him of a friend the other day so he hasn't been out much. He's a wild spirit so I believe you may be better at handling him" Jefforey said, beckoning for Gajeel to come over and saddle Pablo. The final horse we came to was like Felix, skittish and afraid.

"Um sir, is this- was this Lucy's horse?" I asked, a little worried. Jefforey nodded.

"This is Aiko. She was Lucy's horse and returned back with Felix. She is a gentle soul though" He explained. I nodded and opened up the stable door.

"Child please be careful. I would prefer you not be crushed by a horse" Charle piped up on the stable door. Aiko reared in fear of me and I put my hands out to calm her.

"Shhhh girl, it's okay. I'm a friend of Lucy's" I cooed. At the sound of Lucy's name, Aiko softened and let me stroke her face. We were all given the basics of how to ride, how to saddle up and take off the gear, and how our food rations for the horses worked too. Aimee had also been very kind and packed us all food for the 3-day trip to Delfieor. Now with Erza on Juniper, Juvia on Blaze, Gajeel and Pantherlily on Pablo, Gray and Happy on Felix, and Charle and I on Aiko, we prepared to head out to the mountains in the late afternoon.

"Thank you for everything" Erza said, sitting up in her saddle on Juniper. Aimee and Jefforey smiled up at her.

"No problem deary. Just have a safe trip" Aimee said in a sweet motherly tone.

"I never even got all your names" Jefforey said, now remembering that he had forgotten to ask for our names. We one by one went around and introduced ourselves. He too was shocked by the talking cats, but he got over the shock quick. We said our goodbyes and took off into the sunset, hoping that we could get to our guild mates- no, friends- no, _family_ , before it was too late.

* * *

 **LUCY POV**

"And so from there, we swing down into the cells and cut Dee out" I finished, drawing a very detailed, and also very simple, diagram to explain to Natsu what we were doing in this plan. We were currently sitting in our little room at Gran-Gran Cass's guild hall. She had bandaged us up again, fed us and gave us a bath and clean clothes, all of which we were very grateful for. It wasn't quite midnight just yet, but it was getting close so me and Natsu we stuck playing the waiting game.

"One question, what do we do about freeing Dee? There will be other people with her" Natsu asked, scratching his chin as though he had miraculously grown stubble within the last few minutes.

"Easy. Matthew describes on the map that each section has their own jail area, and the jail areas are separated into categories for children to teenagers, the middle aged, and the elderly. We just have to find the children and teenagers cell and free them" I explained, pointing on the rough map Matthew had drawn for us.

"So we technically rescue them too?" queried Natsu, reading the map and following where my fingers were pointing.

"Yeah, although it will be difficult though. When they were loading the cart, a majority of the people inside were children or teenagers so there will be a few in Dee's cell" I stated, trying to remember roughly how many people where in the cart.

"Actually, come to think of it, what do the cuffs mean?" Natsu asked. He had a point. Many people we had grown to know in this place had the same iron cuffs around their ankles and wrists as Dee did, yet we had never once really questioned why some people had them and others did not. I was about to answer Natsu's question when there was a knock on the door to our room.

"Come in" I called out to the person behind the door. It swung open and Gran-Gran Cass emerged from the pitch-black hallway holding nothing but a small candle to light her way.

"It is nearing the time of your departure. I suggest you begin to prepare yourselves" Gran-Gran Cass said with a solemn, yet determined tone. She paused for a second and thought.

"Although, what are you going to do to prepare? You will surely be seen in your sack rags and you have no weapons to fight if you were to get in an altercation" She stated with curiosity and a hint of worry. I smiled back cockily.

"We've done some reconnaissance before around Delfieor and we have equipment that we can use" I replied, still smiling. Gran-Gran Cass looked around the room, which was bare empty, looking for a bag or something that would contain the said equipment.

"Where is it? I don't see it" Gran-Gran Cass said, still looking around the room confused. Natsu had found a solitary cracker lying on the table was munching on it as Gran-Gran Cass and I spoke.

"Fhats cau'sh vergo hash it" spat Natsu, with a mouthful of dry cracker. I slapped him upside the head for being rude and Gran-Gran Cass chuckled. Natsu swallowed his mouthful and then tried again.

"That's because Virgo has it" Natsu said again, with less food and less spitting. Gran-Gran Cass now looked visibly confused.

"But Virgo is a constellation of stars, how would a constellation have it?" Gran-Gran Cass questioned. I smiled in surprise. I knew Gran-Gran Cass was knowledgeable on dead languages and what not, but I did not expect her to have the knowledge of which constellations were which, let alone knowing that the stars had names.

"Well you see, I'm a magic user too" I began to explain. Gran-Gran Cass nodded, already knowing that if Natsu was a magic user, then there would be a high chance that I would be too.

"Our magic types are a little different though. Helios is an ability type magic user meaning that his power, which is flames, comes directly from his body" I continued. Natsu lit a hand on fire to confirm the fact, at which Gran-Gran Cass moved closer, intrigued.

"Fascinating, I mean I already knew about your power, but I had yet to see it controlled" She said, very fascinated by the control Natsu had over his flames. He smiled at the attention.

"You should see me when I'm all fired up" he said, with that trade mark, troublemaking grin. I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Yeah and every time you are, we always end up burning down a town or a forest" I huffed in somewhat annoyance. Gran-Gran Cass chuckled again at our bickering.

"Anyway, continuing on, there are two types of magic users. Helios's is ability, right? Well mine is called 'holder magic'. My magic comes out of items that I direct my magic through. My items are called celestial keys" I explained, holding out the small leather pouch with all my keys in. Gran-Gran Cass gently took the pouch and opened it up to see 10 golden keys and 5 silver ones. Gran-Gran Cass's eyes widened as I remembered that she had probably never seen precious metal before. She went to touch them and the keys hummed at the touch of someone unknown. Gran-Gran Cass jumped at the movement of the keys and accidently dropped them.

 _"_ _Aquarius will kill me for that one"_ I thought to myself and picked up the pouch before smiling back at Gran-Gran Cass.

"Don't worry, they do that when someone unknown to them touches them" I said reassuringly, before standing up and pulling out Virgo's key.

"What are you going to do?" Gran-Gran Cass asked, more in curiosity and fear.

"Summon a spirit by opening up the gate" I replied, and then took my stance.

"Open! Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" I shouted, pushing pent up magic energy through the key to summon Virgo. The tell-tale door-bell sounded and Virgo puffed into existence. As she bowed in front of me, Gran-Gran Cass looked on in awe.

"Hello Mistress, I believe you and Natsu will be needing your clothing again?" Virgo queried. I nodded.

"Yeah, and our equipment too, if you could please" I replied. Virgo nodded in compliance and was about to renter the celestial world when Gran-Gran Cass poked her shoulder.

"So, you're a solid being…" Gran-Gran Cass mumbled to herself.

"Oh yeah, that's Gran-Gran Cass by the way. Don't mind her, she's never seen celestial magic used before" I explained. Virgo turned around and bowed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you madam. I do hope that mistress has not been causing you any trouble" Virgo said to Gran-Gran Cass in her usual monotone voice.

"It's not me, it's flame brain who's the trouble!" I screeched behind her. Gran-Gran Cass just smiled and Virgo turned back around to face me again.

"I'll go and collect your items, mistress" she replied, before popping out of existence. The silence was interrupted by the sound of Natsu's belly rumbling. Gran-Gran Cass and I looked at Natsu who shot us both a sheepish look.

"You ate and hour ago" I grumbled in annoyance.

"Yeah but that was food-food, I need fire-food" he replied, drool running down his chin as he thought of a tasty fire. Gran-Gran Cass looked at me confused.

"It's a long story. His magic means he's able to eat fire as food and as magic power" I explained. Gran-Gran Cass nodded before having an idea pop into her head.

"If that's the case, I'll go fetch some torches and light those for you to eat. How about that?" She asked. Natsu nodded frantically and Gran-Gran Cass laughed before quickly turning on her heel to go fetch Natsu a tasty meal of fire. As soon as Gran-Gran Cass had left, Virgo popped back into existence with all our stealth gear and equipment.

"Was that all mistress?" Virgo asked, handing me two piles of clothing. I nodded and smiled.

"Yeah that should be all thank you, Virgo" I replied, thanking her. She bowed in return.

"You are welcome. Please be careful down there" she replied before disappearing back to the celestial world. Natsu and I changed into the all-black stealth gear we had been using for reconnaissance missions. As I had been clipping my small blade onto my thigh, Gran-Gran Cass returned to the room holding 4 large torches blazing alight. In one large intake, the fire was sucked straight off the touch and into Natsu's mouth, who then burped in approval of the hot meal. Gran-Gran Cass just stood there in awe and bewilderment, before breaking out into a laugh, which we all ended up joining in on. A small moment of care-freeness before what could be a life or death situation.

* * *

"Please be safe you two, and try not to get into any altercations with the guards down there" Gran-Gran Cass said. We were now standing outside the guild hall in the pitch-black night, with nothing but the lantern Gran-Gran Cass held in front of her lighting the night.

"We will be as careful as we can" said Natsu, which was a surprise for both Gran-Gran Cass and I.

"I promise we will return" I said as well, although the worried look on Gran-Gran Cass's face did not waiver.

"Please just return" She said once more. We said our goodbyes and went around the drain opening near the guild hall. Natsu used the edge of a compact crow bar, curtesy of Virgo, to undo the rusted bolts and pry open the drain. The distinct smell of the sewer erupted out from the hole and Natsu and I both gagged on the smell, covering our faces with bandanas before climbing down the hole. I summoned Virgo once more to place the drain covering back and screw it in, making sure that no one could trace us. Once the cover was over the opening and sealed shut, we were rendered into pitch black darkness.

Through the sewer drain system, Natsu guided us with his flames as light. We both barely uttered a word in the fear that we may be heard or caught. And also, the fact that it smelt so bad that if any one of us opened our mouths, we would have gotten a whiff the smell and consequently thrown up, also making us be heard and possibly even caught. For a slave civilization, there seemed to be some decent sewer systems, although, that wasn't to say that it wasn't any less disgusting than one, for example, from Magnolia. We followed Matthews sketchy map through the sewers until we reached a rather clean, rather large pipe that lead off from the sewers that had a circular iron pothole cover in the middle.

"Do you think that's it?" Natsu whispered so quietly next to me. I nodded.

"I think so, I looks like the main pipe Matthew told us about" I said even quieter, knowing that Natsu could hear me fine. We slowly and carefully unscrewed the bolts holding down the pothole cover and pried it open with the crow bar, being ever so careful not to make a sound in removing the cover. The pipe that was once pitch black, bathed in the faint orange glow of the tunnel beneath it. Natsu used his senses to detect if anyone was coming and gave us the all clear to move. The tunnel around us looked as though it had been carved out of sandstone or rock, with rounded corners, and flat floors.

We continued to follow the map until we came to what was marked on the map as, 'The Chamber'. As we drew closer, sounds of wailing, screaming, and sobbing became louder and louder, to the point of almost deafening. Natsu and I both stopped when we reached The Chamber. It was a huge spiralling cave with stairwells running along the sides, connecting up with tunnels that lead to section prison cells which looped back around like a U. What was completely harrowing though were the cages that hung suspended from the ceiling of the cave. There were 8 long chains, each holding maybe a dozen or so cages along them. They looked very confining and consisted of spikes protruding from the bottom and the top of the cage. Inside, there were maybe 3 or 4 people or less, of various ages, a majority of them dead, others on the brink. All of them wearing cuffs. Bats were flying around the cages, obviously feeding off the corpses of the poor souls in the cages. It was sickening to watch and even think about.

From inside The Chamber, the only light was provided by the torches that the guards on patrol carried. Whilst this made it hard for me to navigate in the dark, Natsu was easily able to carry me through the dark with his perfect eyesight. We had seemed to have entered at the top of The Chamber with the first prison hallway we passed being the one assigned to section 20. We continued on down into the dark, passing sections 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14 & 13\. Between section 13 and 12, we began to realise that our path forward was blocked by a guard coming up from section 12's prison cells and our path back was blocked off by a guard heading down from section 13's prison cells. Knowing that we would be trapped, Natsu did the most Natsu thing possible and jumped down off the stairway into the chasm below. I wanted to scream and yell at Natsu for doing so but had to bite my lip in terror, drawing blood. We landed further down one of the stairways with no guards in sight. Natsu's landing didn't make a sound thanks to the noise cancelling soles in the boots than Virgo had given us. Thankfully, we had landed near section 5's prison cells, so we weren't too far from section 2's.

We continued further down until we reached section 2's prison cells, and Natsu put me down. There was thankfully not an awful amount of light down in this hallway, meaning that it was easy for us to sneak through, for me to navigate in, and the prisoners could barely see us, meaning there would be no panic for escape. We passed a long cell containing barely any old citizens, turned a corner, and passed another long cell, this one filled with middle aged people. It was significantly fuller than the last one, with a majority of the inmates peacefully sleeping. Well not really peacefully in the conditions they were in. They all looked malnourished and what looked like a large dog's water bowl was completely empty. The cell reeked of faeces and urine. It was quite literally a dog's cage. These people were being treated like animals, less than humans, and all because of a cuff?

We turned another corner and came along another long cell, this one holding children and teenagers. Natsu and I stopped and held back in the shadows, trying to see if Dee was in there. At first, we couldn't find her and our minds turned to the worst scenario.

 _'_ _She could have been one of the people up in those cages. We could have passed her without knowing'_ my mind thought frantically, I tried to calm down, trying to think of the best but my mind had other plans. Natsu interrupted my thought when he tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out a small figure sitting with their back against the bars. At first, I couldn't see it, and then I saw the long plait laying outside the cell. Natsu and I both sneaked over the where she was. Everyone was asleep but it was obvious she was still awake. She was drawing something in the dust and humming so quietly to herself. Natsu made a water drop noise with his mouth and her ears perked up, turning around to see where the noise came from. We emerged from the shadows and her face lit up in a massive grin. Natsu and I both knew that we had to stay quiet and put out fingers to our lips to signal that. She got the message but she was still smiling. We crept over closer so we could whisper to her.

"You guys found me!" she whispered, still grinning.

"Yeah, we're gonna rescue you and the others in here" Natsu explained, pointing at the bars. Dee nodded before looking around.

"I'll wake everyone up and explain to them what's happening and tell them to be quiet" Dee explained before waking up the kid behind her, putting her finger to her lips, explaining the situation, and then waking up someone else. The kid she had first woken up started helping her wake the others up and within a few minutes, 30 kids and teenagers sat silently huddled around in front of us waiting to be released. It wasn't until I realised, sitting up the back was Sylvia. Her eyes widened when she realised it was me. She crawled over so we could whisper.

"What on earth Ruby?" she questioned/whispered. I put my finger to my lips.

"I'll have to explain another time, not now" I said, promising to tell her the truth eventually.

"Hey kids, we're here to rescue you. We're here to help you but we have to do somethings that will be a little scary to get you out. Whatever happens, don't make a sound or we will get caught. Okay?" I whispered to all of them. They nodded, but all of them looked scared about what I said to them. Sylvia just looked at me questioningly. I signalled Dee to tell them to move back from the bars and then nodded at Natsu to get to work. He grinned manically, which scared a majority of the children, and grabbed onto the bars. The kids expected him to pull the bars off, instead, he used his fire to melt the bars in his hands, essentially making an escape hole. The kids and teenagers had now retreated to the back of the cave in shock of what Natsu had just done. Dee climbed though first to prove that it was safe. Sylvia was the next to follow, and one by one, they all crawled out until there was no one left inside the cell.

I pulled out the map again and read the diagram that Matthew had left. He had written that along this hallway was a pipe that lead up to the sewers. I looked up along to see 10 metres down was the tell-tale drain cover in the roof. I tapped Natsu and pointed over to it. We moved down to be underneath it and Natsu pulled out the compact crow bar. With the press of a button, it extended so he could touch the bolts on the roof. Knowing that we had to repair to bars to not raise suspicion, I summoned Virgo once, whispering to be silent before summoning her. I could tell the kids behind me were in complete shock and terror. Who was to blame them, they had never seen magic before. I sent Virgo a telepathic message to repair the metal bars. She bowed at me and got to work. I went back over to check on Natsu to see he had opened up the roof pipe and pushed aside the covering. It was too high for Natsu or I to reach or for the children to reach at that. An idea popped into my head and I pulled out Gemini's key, quickly whispering to them to stay quiet and summoned them. There was no sound as they popped into existence.

"Please turn into Happy" I whispered. They both nodded before turning into the blue fluffy feline with wings. I motioned for Dee to come forward. Happy grabbed onto the back of Dee's dress and took her up into the pipe before coming back down to do the same again. At first the kids were hesitant to get a lift from a blue flying cat, but this was their only option of escape and they all ended up having to trust us. Just as the last few kids were being flown up, I went to check on Virgos work. She had completely repaired the bars, as if they weren't even melted 5 minutes ago. I silently thanked her and she bowed before disappearing off into the celestial world. The last kid was being flown up as I came back to the escape pipe. Natsu motioned for me to go first. Happy grabbed onto my back and flew me up into the complete darkness of the pipe. I had forgotten how dark it was up in the pipes. Happy let go of me and flew down once more to pick up Natsu. All of the kids had huddled up together in fear of the darkness up here. As Natsu landed in the pipe, I let Gemini return and they puffed out of existence.

"Hey Helios, can we get a light?" asked Dee from somewhere in the darkness. Natsu nodded and lit a hand on fire. At first the kids were taken aback but after everything that they had already seen us do, I don't think they were too surprised by this. With one hand alight, Natsu placed the cover over the hole and screwed the bolts back in, making it look as though we had never been. Natsu pulled out a candle from his bag and lit it for me. We moved with me, Dee, and Sylvia leading the front, and Natsu at the back, making sure everyone stayed together. Travelling up various streams and stairwells, we finally seemed to be at the top of the tunnel system once more. We once again hit the tell-tale smell of the sewers, but we at least we knew we were close to escaping. After walking for what seemed like an hour, we found a ladder reaching up to the surface. Natsu handed Dee the crow bar and she climbed up to unscrew the covering and lift it, with some help of the other kids. Natsu and I stayed down to make sure they all got up okay.

"Ruby what- how- why-" Sylvia stuttered/whispered. She regained her words.

"Ruby who are you?" She asked, half with curiosity and half with fear. I shook my head.

"I can't get into that right now, but I will tell you when we get out of this" I said. Sylvia nodded, and began to climb out of the sewer, along with the other kids. Halfway through all the kids escaping, Natsu suddenly jerked his head around, his eyes widening.

"What's wrong?" I asked, not being able to hear anything. He clenched his teeth.

"The alarm was just sounded below. They know" Natsu replied. We both knew this was gonna happen but we didn't think so soon.

"Come on, quickly guys, you need to move" I urged the kids on. One by one they entered up to the above and finally Natsu and I climbed up into the darkness of the night. It was a little lighter now, signalling that morning was soon to rise. Natsu replaced the cover and screwed the bolts shut for the last time. All the kids we had rescued had run off to their homes to reunite with their families. I looked over at Dee and Natsu.

"Guys were gonna have to run, the guards will be here soon" I explained. Dee nodded in agreement.

"I know the backways through the alleys. This is section 6 right now but I can get us back to section 2 in no time" Dee said, starting to run into the desert alleyways. Natsu and I followed suit, dodging crates, barrels, old chunks of wood. Then the guards started running. I could hear them going around, demanding cuffed citizens from section 2 and checking ID tags. We came to a T in the alley way.

"Dee they're gonna find you, you're a cuffed so you will be caught" I said, trying to catch my breath. I could see Natsu walking over to her from behind me.

"I have an idea. It may hurt but you'll be safe" Natsu explained. Dee nodded.

"Do what you have to. I wanna be safe" Dee said. Natsu sat her down and grabbed her ankle, wrapping his hand around the iron cuff. Without looking away from her face, he began to burn away the iron cuff. Dee's face distorted in pain at the heat but she didn't make a sound. After a minute, Natsu removed his hand and the cuff crumbled off, revealing a very contrasting snow white patch of skin against Dee's light olive skin. He did the same to the other ankle and her left wrist. Natsu was about to start her right wrist when we heard guards running the alley way that we had come.

"Quick, take this path straight to Gran-Gran Cass's! I'll meet you there!" Dee cried before running down the alleyway going right. Natsu grabbed my hand we ran to the left, swerving in and around objects and obstacles, until after running continuously for what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at Gran-Gran Cass's place once more. As if a miracle the sun's rays began to hit the large guild hall, making it look like it was blessed by the heavens. The door had been left unlocked for us and we bolted inside as the guards entered the courtyard of section 2. Gran-Gran Cass must have heard the commotion and came down to usher us in, bolting the door down behind us.

"Quickly, you two, change out into these clothes and get into bed. Pretend you are sleeping and hide your clothes" Gran-Gran Cass said hurriedly, hastily thrusting clothes at us and pushing us into the double room Natsu and I had shared previously. There was a thunderous bang on the front doors and Gran-Gran Cass rushed out. Natsu and I both speedily changed out of our clothes, hiding them inside the mattresses. We both jumped into bed, hearts pounding a million miles a minute. I could hear the guards talking to Gran-Gran Cass downstairs, asking if they could search for and refugees or criminals. They were being quite polite to her and Gran-Gran Cass obliged on the condition that they did not disturb the patients. So, door by door, the rooms were scanned but no one could be found. The door opened to our room and I felt as though I may explode.

"Nothing here out of the ordinary" said the guard who briefly scanned our room before closing the door and moving onto the next room. Natsu and I didn't move until after the guards had left the building.

"It's okay you two, you can come out now" Gran-Gran Cass announced, opening up the door. Natsu and I both threw of the covers of our beds in unison and panted hard. Gran-Gran Cass offered us both herbal tea, which I downed without a second thought. She sat down on the edge of my bed and looked at us full of concern.

"Did you rescue Dee?" she asked, voice full of worry and curiosity. I nodded.

"Yeah, and some other kids too" I huffed out, feeling calmer already from the tea. Gran-Gran Cass worried look to ease somewhat.

"That is a relief, although I have a feeling they may all be caught again soon, meaning Dee may not be safe" Gran-Gran Cass said, whipping her forehead.

"That reminds me, where is she? She is not safe with those cuffs" Gran-Gran Cass began. I shook my head.

"It's okay, Natsu was able to nearly burn them all off" I explained. Gran-Gran Cass nodded in approval before turning to ask Natsu how he did it. She was stopped the heavy snores erupting from his bed. We both smiled and Gran-Gran Cass turned to me.

"Please, get some rest. You deserve it" she began, pulling the rough duvet cover up to tuck me in.

"Dee said she was gonna meet us here" I told her, feeling extremely drowsy now. Whatever was in that tea was knocking me out like a light.

"I'll tell you when she gets here, now rest up sweetie" she softly said before getting up and closing the door. I did not hesitate to let sleep take me after a whole night of running around underground.

* * *

 **A/N: SUP BITCHES I'M BACK**

 **So I first off need to apologize for the meeeeeeeegggggga long hiatus that I took. I have the most severe case of writers block and I was struggling to write anything for the last 12 months or so.**

 **I also finished school last year (FUCK YEAAAH), but I also went straight into uni at the start of this year (FUCK NO). So I deferred my course till August next year, because screw studying, and I'm essentially working till then.**

 **So some of you may be thinking "Where did you go?" and "Why did you want to continue again?" Well the answer is I want to finish this story. This is the first story that I've ever really gotten into writing and I have an awesome ending planned out in my head. I wanna take you guys on a journey that I would want to read. And I mean now that Fairy Tail has finished its publication, I really wanna write more stories, keep the story alive, and because being the first anime that I watched when I was 15, Fairy Tail will always hold a special place in my heart.**

 **Also, during my little hiatus, I sorta went through an art phase (cause you know, craft, music, writing, and sport ain't enough to keep me occupied) and I started drawing some art for some of the characters in ARTR. I recently just finished one for Dee and feel free to check out the ones I did for Ria and Dex :D**

 **There we have it! The long awaited chapter! Remember to leave your reviews on what you think of the chapter, and I promise this time, I wont take a year to write the next chapter :P**

 **-nicolalouise104 xx**

 **Heads up (cause hates links) its blue-cheeter)deviantart.c0m/art/A-Road-T0-Rec0very-Dex-and-Ria-610900933  
**

 **Just remember to change the 0 in the letters to o's and the ) to a .**


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